Chapter Twenty-Four

**

I wake to find myself in a bed, with a medcomp weighing down my left arm. I’m in the medical center of Titan’s dome, I realize, but why?

"Erin?"

I turn my head, slowly, to the right, and Gwen swims into focus. "Gwen?"

A chuckle. "So you know who I am?"

"Mmm… yeah. Oh, god, why does my head hurt so much? Oh, jeezie petes…" I close my eyes, feeling my stomach lurch in protest at the agony lancing through my skull.

Another voice answers. "Because you’ve had a bit of a rough time, little human, but we’ve got you stabilized now. You do need to answer a few questions, though."

I peek through my eyelids in the general direction of the other voice, past Gwen’s head. A man’s standing there, wearing the prerequisite white coat. He’s Draka, that much is for certain; his blue eyes hold mine in a penetrating stare. "Um, well… yes, Uhmas… nnnhh…" I try to sit up, but that’s definitely not a good idea. Gwen gently pushes me back against the mattress.

"Just answer our questions, little ‘un. You don’t have to get up to do that. Do you remember what happened?"

I close my eyes and concentrate. "I was sending you some files you’d requested, and then… not much after that. We were in the negotiations area."

"Right. What happened after you sent your Muhmis the files, wench?" The man sits down, and smiles, not unkindly. "I’m Doctor Rhinehart, by the way. Medical director here."

"Glad to meet ya, doc," I murmur, forgetting for a moment where and when I am. In my mind, I’m on the USS Solace, the hospital ship I was put on after the Nimitz went down. "Where’s Peter?"

"Peter?" Dr. Rhinehart sounds confused.

Gwen clears her throat, and the sound brings me back to the here and now, as she says, "Her best friend, companion in the old United States Navy, on Earth/2. I think she’s having a bit of slippage here. She’s back now. Right, Erin Kane d’Ingolfsson?" Her hand caresses mine briefly.

"Y-y-y-yes, Muhmis. Sorry." I blink rapidly, trying to work up the nerve to open my eyes completely, despite the pain. Rhinehart reaches over and touches the medcomp on my arm, and the pain dulls into a level I can bear. The room pops into clear, sharp-edged focus. "Um, sorry, Uhmas the doctor."

"Not a problem." Aside, he says to Gwen, "We’ll have to watch that, though. Could be symptomatic of damage we haven’t found yet."

"Damage? Uhmas? Muhmis? What happened? I guess I passed out or something?"

"You really don’t remember, do you?" Gwen leans forward, scanning my eyes. I shake my head, carefully, in a back and forth no.

"Try to tell us what you do remember. The last legible impression we have from your transducer is your sending the files to your Muhmis. Do you recall anything else? Any feelings, thoughts? Odd sensations?" The doctor sounds professionally curious as well as concerned.

"Um… well. Let’s see. I remember transferring the files… you did get them, didn’t you?" Gwen nods, smiling. "Okay, then… well, it was like I had an itch. An itch on my brain or something weird like that. Then my head hurt, really bad. It was icy cold but it burned…" I close my eyes and shudder. "The last thing I remember is thinking I was falling down a rabbit hole…"

"A rabbit hole?!" Rhinehart sounds amazed. Gwen just laughs, her husky, bronze-like tones ringing in the ward.

"A reference to an old Earth story, about a girl named Alice. Odd, though. Did you find the rabbit, Erin?"

I giggle softly. "No, can’t say as I did."

"Itching, supposedly on your brain, then a cold, burning sensation? Anything else?" Rhinehart leans forward, looking at the medcomp for a moment.

"I know it sounds goofy. That’s the only way I can…" I pause, my memory bringing Peter back. Peter and me, at the poolside, at the House in Andros… how we were learning to send each other things via transducer. "Um, well… it was like when Peter and I were learning, Muhmis, with the transducer… when you were teaching us. How Peter would almost succeed in sending me something, and lose it at the last moment. It felt kinda like that."

"As if someone was sending you information?"

"No, not exactly…" I frown. "No, Muhmis, it was like when I’ve got my calls screened, and some computer keeps trying to send me something, like my daily schedule. It didn’t have the same, well, resonance a person’s calls have. It was cold, colder than our computers at home. I wonder if I accessed some computer here by mistake?"

"No. We checked that…" Gwen sounds thoughtful. She leans back and closes her eyes for a moment; Rhinehart waits respectfully until she reopens them. "As if something was trying to break through your transducer codes, your security codes, Erin?"

"Yes! Yeah, that’s it. That’s what it was like. What happened?"

"I’m starting to have some interesting suspicions. Doctor, have a tech come in and carefully go through the girl’s transducer. We’ll have to put you to sleep for a bit, darlin’. I want any trace of a probe being launched at her tracked down. I want to know who did this, and why."

"Yes, Archon. Right away." He reaches for the medcomp, and I whimper.

"Please, don’t go away, I don’t want to go to sleep again…my head still hurts, please… why does my chest hurt, too? Please, Muhmis?"

"Sssaaa… listen, my sweet. We had to restart your heart. It had stopped while you were having some grand mal seizures. In the negotiation room. That’s why you’re sore. And yes, you do have to go to sleep for this. I’ll be nearby, and I’ll be here when you wake up. It won’t take long, I promise. Be good, now, Erin, that’s right. I’ll stay here until you’re asleep…" She begins stroking my cheeks, my jaw, smoothing my hair back from my forehead. My eyes suddenly grow too heavy to keep open, and I drift away, feeling her hands on me.

**

"No, Sera, please not to touch. It’s still drying." The tech moves my right hand back to the bed, and smiles down at me. "You’re fine, now. I’ll go fetch your--"

"No, here I am," Gwen says, leaning down over me and kissing my forehead. "How do you feel?"

"Better, I think. My ear itches."

"We had to open that area up a tiny bit, and the skinpatch is still drying. It’ll be fine, soon. Have you remembered anything else, Erin?"

"No. Was I supposed to?"

Gwen sits down and runs a finger down the side of my face. "No, I was just wondering. Tell me about the conversation you and Emily had."

"It’s here, in my transducer… do you want to access it?"

"I already have; I want your impressions, too. Tell."

"Oh. Well, I was happy to see her. She’s a nice enough kid, for a Samothracian." The tech next to me, packing away his kit, makes a soft snarling noise. I turn to him, surprised to hear such a noise coming from a servus, and then realize he’s human. One of the Space Force trainees sent out here recently. He blushes a bit, and hurriedly finishes packing.

"And?" Gwen prompts.

"I was sort of blissed out, as you will recall, Muhmis…" I say, looking back over to her. "It made me sort of sad that she was upset that I was somewhat, sort of, drugged, you know, and that it upset her."

"Yes. Anything else? Did she touch you at any point during the conversation?"

"By my knee. My right one. Just a touch. It wasn’t that, was it, Muhmis? God…and I touched her hand, too." I try to sit up, to look at the side of my knee, and the tech nudges me back against the bed. Gwen leans over me and looks closely at my leg, shaking her head no.

"She was scanned, full-body, inside and out, wasn’t she?"

"Oh, yes, Uhmis the Archon. Before we let her out of the isolation unit. Several times, as a matter of fact. I can bring those records up for you, if you wish." The tech makes a gesture, apparently indicating a holographic display.

"No, that’s fine. I can review them more quickly in my head. Thanks." Gwen looks away, her eyes going unfocused for a brief moment, and then smiles back down at me. "Nothing we can find, anyway, darlin’. Anything else?"

"No. I wouldn’t think she’d do something like that, Muhmis…"

"That’s because you’re somewhat naïve, sweet. She’s a Samothracian, and they’re no less ruthless than we Draka. Maybe even more ruthless when it comes to you humans." Her smile goes away, leaving her face set and grim. "Hmm… sounds like someone tried to spike your transducer."

"The Samos?" I ask.

"Not us. I’ve checked all over, even with my political rivals. Nothing. No one would do something like that, anyway, when the issues of the Race were at hand. Not if they valued their lives at all. No, I think it was a Samothracian thing. We just need to figure out who, and how."

Dr. Rhinehart walks into my line of sight, and smiles briefly at me. "Um, Archon, could we talk for a moment, in my office?"

"Certainly, but…"

"It’s all right. This area’s secured; she should be fine. But my office has very, very good security, the latest from Archona. And there’s something you need to see."

"Right, then." Gwen stands up smoothly, and pats my head gently. "Be right back. You, um, Technician Rogers, stay near her, in case she needs anything, hear?"

"Yes, Uhmis the Archon. I live to serve." He bows, blushing again. He’s really a nice young kid, I think, and Alice’d think he was positively ducky. Maybe I should get Muhmis to bring him home… but between Alice and Shawonda, there probably wouldn’t be much left of him after the first week or so… I chuckle, and close my eyes.

PAIN! Unending, blinding, screaming, bloody pain. I try to yell, to make some noise, but nothing comes out, and I can’t even breathe. Or move. The itching’s there, but more briefly this time, and then the overwhelming PAIN that isn’t going to stop I’m going to have PAIN until I die oh god dying would be a blessed relief from this awful grinding burning PAIN please help me Mamaw Papaw Alice oh god Gwen please please make the PAIN stop…

Silence. Darkness. Then a blast of bright light, and voices, commanding, asking. I can’t move, can’t breathe. My chest hurts, my head… I can’t do anything. The light begins to fade and the pain moves back in, and then there’s nothing.

"Erin?" Gwen’s voice.

"Come on, now, missy, come on back to this world." Dr. Rhinehart’s voice.

"That’s right, my pretty-girl. Erin, it’s all right. No, don’t try to get up, it’s all right." Gwen’s voice again, and now I can see her. Yolande’s standing behind her, her eyes larger than usual, a grim look on her face that lightens as I wake up and open my eyes.

"Looks like she’s coming around. Let’s try to keep her, this time." Rhinehart taps something on my medcomp and things clear up. I can breathe more easily now, but then I notice the translucent tube leading into my nose. The air’s cold but so sweet, so sweet. I breathe deeply, relishing the feeling rushing through me and the absence of the horrific pain.

"Muh-mis?" I manage to croak, and she takes my right hand off the bedcover and gently kisses it. The other Draka look away for a moment, I notice, as I blush.

"Yes, honey-sweet. It’s all right. You’re all right, now."

"But… what happened to my transducer? What…"

"It’s off for now. You probably don’t remember much of what just happened, do you?" Rhinehart looks down at me, cool blue eyes like pools I could swim in. I blush again, and both he and Gwen chuckle. "Good responses, and good circulation, Archon."

"Yes, she does have a charming blush. It’s full-body, too." Gwen smooths my hair back. It’s damp, I realize, and I shiver a bit.

"No, doctor, I don’t remember… but the itch was there, and then the pain was ever so much worse. God above, it was terrible."

"Yes, it was. No wonder your heart seized again. Thought we were going to have a cerebral hemorrhage, there for a moment. But that’s all under control, now. The transducer’s staying off until we get you back to Earth/2, or unless we can keep you in a highly secure area, like the command center."

"Oh."

"You don’t remember what you did, do you?" Yolande sits down on the end of the bed and smiles at me. The shock of that almost makes me pass out again. Yolande Ingolfsson, hater of all damnyanks, of which I’m one, smiling at me? Gadzooks! I gasp, and wonder what she’s talking about.

"No, Uhmis Ingolfsson. What did I do?"

She grins, startlingly white in her tanned face. "Something I never would have expected from a damnyank. Guess I need to rethink my opinion of you."

"Um… but Uhmis, what’d I do?"

"You were as brave as any Draka I’ve ever known. In the midst of all the agony you were in, you were telling us what signals you were receiving, and what it felt like; when Rhinehart here went to disconnect your transducer, you begged him to stay connected just a second or two longer. How you stood it, I don’t know. And I know pain. Believe me."

I shiver. Yes, I believe you, with all my heart and soul, lady. Jesus. "But… I don’t remember…"

Gwen speaks up. "No, you don’t. I think your mind’s blanked out on it. You were almost killed by the spike this time, my pretty-girl, my brave little woman. But you lasted just long enough for Security to get a good trace on it."

"I did? Where’s it from? What is it?"

"It’s a cyberspike, a tool we originally developed and that the Samothracians have almost perfected. It was trying to break through your transducer codes, even if it had to kill you to do so. The first one was more of an attempt to see if it worked at all, or possibly an attempt to communicate with you on a secret basis. The second one was designed to extract whatever information it could, and then kill you."

"God."

"More like the devil, if you want to talk about mythology. But it’s Samothracian, all right." Gwen snarls, low and gutteral. The other Draka do, too, and for a moment I have the mental image of being surrounded by a pack of hungry, pissed-off wolves in the dead of winter. Alone in the woods. I shudder, and Gwen makes a slight face, her own reddening somewhat. "Ah, my dear, I’m sorry, didn’t mean to scare you so. Ssshh… it’s all right, now, Erin. You’re safe."

"Just, um, watch those growly noises, unless you want me hiding under the bed," I try to joke, but my voice is shaky. I try to grin, too, but it comes out lopsided.

"Never… you’re safe, my girl. My sweet saafn. My brave saafn. You’ve made me very proud, indeed." She kisses me firmly on the lips, her tongue flickering in for a second to warm me from the top of my head to the soles of my feet.

"Who… ahem… sent it?" I say, after a moment regaining my wits.

The Draka laugh. Gwen finally recovers enough to say, "Your favorite Samo."

"Emily? No way, not her, please…"

"No, no… I was being sarcastic. Actually, it was her lovely mother. But we had a little surprise for her." Gwen chuckles deeply again. "When we traced the spike, and found out who sent it, we rerouted it back to her, ramped up about two hundred percent. And guess what?"

"What?"

"Guess who’s ‘not feeling well’ and won’t be attending the rest of the negotiation sessions?"

"Aha! How sweet of you!" The words sound innocuous coming out of my mouth, but Rhinehart’s eyes widen in surprise. He reaches for the medcomp, and Gwen holds his hand back. She’s grinning, a bare-toothed snarl like the one I’m wearing. Yolande’s watching me, closely, with a small smile on her face. Of understanding. She knows hatred when she sees it.

"No, don’t medicate her anymore than’s necessary, Harold. Let her feel her anger. It’s fine." Gwen’s voice is calm, but there’s iron in it.

"I’ve just never seen a human look like… well, like that. It was surprising."

Yolande speaks up. "You’re a youngster, Rhinehart. These are the humans we subdued to create the empire of the Race. They’re not to be taken lightly. Ever."

"I can certainly see that now." He sits back down, watching my face intently.

I wipe sweat off my forehead. "I wish I could’ve seen it. Maybe smoke came out of her ears or something. That bitch…"

"Yes, that would be entertaining. Perhaps one day, that’s what we’ll see. But it was your sacrifice, your courage, that made the retaliation possible. I don’t think any more spikes will be coming through. I’ve also talked with General Smythe, and he was actually quite surprised that this had happened. He had no idea she was working on the spike program; apparently she’s in quite a bit of hot water."

"May she boil." I close my eyes for a moment, trying to calm the pulse pounding in my ears. I feel Gwen’s hands stroke my face, and relax into her touch. "Sorry."

"No, don’t be. It’s quite all right, darlin’…" The other Draka chuckle, and I feel Yolande squeeze my right foot, gently.

"How can we manage, though, Muhmis? Will all the humans have to go without their transducers?"

"No. We’re already working on that issue. An updated security code will be sent ‘round, and that should guard against any more of these problems. The Samothracians want the negotiations too much to play the spike game anymore."

"I’d like to play it with them for a time or two. I guess they decided to try it out on some of us expendable, traitorous humans, and then maybe work their way up from there?" I look up at her, and at the other Draka around me. "They may hate you, as Draka, as what they consider unnatural critters, but they despise us humans. We chose to serve you. Like we had a lot of choice. Sorry, but that’s the truth. It was either that or be a molecular smear against memet. But if they could, they’d spike every man, woman and child that had a transducer implant. I can’t tolerate that."

"No, we can’t. As Archon, I apologize to you, saafn, for not protecting you as well as I should’ve. That’s being taken care of. A little cyber-terrorism, ah, how do you say, back at them, should discourage any more initiatives down that particular road." Gwen’s voice is firm and formal, and I see the raised eyebrows on the two other Draka. What she’s just done, I realize, is damn rare. It means something.

"Thank you, Archon. I mean it. Thanks. It’s… I want to find a way to protect us, to work on this to fix it. Somehow. They’re intent on wiping us out, some way or another. I’ve worked too hard and dreamed too much to see it thrown away like this. Let me help. We humans are pretty good at this computer stuff, and our technology with yours might be a winning combination. How about accepting my enlistment as your first cyberjanissary?"

Gwen chuckles and kisses my hand. "No, I want to keep you by my side, wench. You’re too valuable to me. But… that’s a damn interesting idea. See what I meant, Yolande, when I was talking about their creativity potential? That’s an intriguing proposition, indeed."

"It certainly is." We all look down to the end of my bed. Archon Alexis Renston’s standing there, a smile playing across his handsome, angular face.

**