The Kelbrid Chronicles
REDUX
---
And all the roads we have to walk are winding,
and all the lights that lead us there are blinding.
There are many things that I would like to say to you,
but I don't know how.
---
III. Don't Go Away
Tobias
My name is Tobias.
My uncle, my last link to my real family, is dead.
I don't know what to do. What am I supposed to do?
Marco and Jake are staring at me. Jake looks like he's just been disemboweled while Marco searches for something, anything, to say. Marco has never been good at handling uncomfortable silences.
"Tobias, man, I--"
But I don't let him finish. I get out of my chair and find the extinguisher I'd dropped to the floor just moments before. It's the only thing in this whole goddamn ship that I won't feel guilty breaking. Without any warning, I slam the butt of it into the rear wall with all the strength that I have. It doesn't even leave a scuff mark. Having apparently lost my freaking mind, I hurl the canister into the wall again, and again, and again. Jeanne angrily demands that someone "do something!"
Finally, Jake traps both my arms from behind and Marco gently pulls the extinguisher out of my hands.
"I think you killed it, buddy," he says, and tosses it away from me.
"This isn't going to change things, Tobias," Jake says, and I resist the urge to punch him in the face. "Later," he insists, and I get the feeling he means 'Later,' as in, 'we'll beat the unholy Hell out of each other once we're back on Terra Firma."
"Fine," I jerk my arms free from his hold and take a step back from him.
"There will be time to be pissed about this. Right now we have to convince the Kelbrids to help us deal with The One," he says. The panicked, pained look he had been wearing just moments before is gone, once again having been replaced by the stoic mask he prefers.
Right, swallow another bitter pill, Jake, take another hit for the team. Jake thinks he has to be strong because he's the leader, and leaders are supposed to shoulder everyone else's burdens. As long as his team can still function, can still be effective, Jake believes he's doing right by us. But everyone has their limit, and Jake has been shouldering more than his fair share of the weight for a long, long time. One of these days, he's going to break, and the result will be far worse than any fleeting moment of insanity that I might occasionally display.
"I need you to pull yourself together," he finishes, and squeezes my shoulder.
"Prince Aximili was exceptionally brave to face The One," Menderash says, finally turning around to look at me. "You should be proud of him."
"Shut up, coward." I immediately regret my choice of words, because I might as well have slapped Menderash in the face, the reaction is the same. Pain lights up his features and it takes a few seconds for him to recover. Slowly he lifts his chin and breathes deeply, evenly.
"I will have to live with my cowardice for the rest of my days, Tobias," he says, his voice quiet and rough around the edges. I've cut him deeply. "But that does not mean I will ever stop honoring my Prince's sacrifice." He turns back to the controls.
"Internal pressure has now stabilized with the Genpur ship, Prince Jake. Exit is a go, when you are ready," he states, making a few more adjustments before turning around again.
Jake takes a deep breath and studies each of us for a moment, making sure that, at least for appearances sake, we look prepared for this.
"Let's go," he says, and heads down the single, narrow passage that leads to the first airlock. He taps the control pad on the side of the first set of sealed doors and they immediately hiss open, panels retracting into the wall. We all move into a room even smaller than the cabin and Jake hesitates a beat.
"One last time; we're all ready?" he asks, looking back over a hunched shoulder. Everyone replies in the affirmative, and Jake taps the second control pad. The doors behind us seal shut before the panels in front pull apart, like the teeth of a yawning animal.
Beyond the doors, what seems to be mile after mile of smooth, pewter-colored glass flooring stretches out before us, until my weak human eyes can follow the curved horizon no more. Hundreds, thousands, of crescent- and boomerang-shaped ships are parked, like modern pieces of sculpture, in neat, orderly rows. They almost seem to have merged with the rest of the massive structure, the bottoms meeting seamlessly with the floor.
"Woah," Marco exhales.
"Ah! There you are!" Ru's head pops up just over the lip of the doorway, despite there being a good 6 or 7 feet to the floor. He must be a lot taller than he looked on screen. "I was beginning to worry..." He says, offering a heavily clawed paw--hand--to Jake. Behind Ru, a group of about ten other Kelbrids stand at attention.
"Your, ah, envoy. Pay them no attention, they are, ah, harmless. Do you require assistance getting down?"
"Uh, no, hang on a minute," Jake says and releases a catch on the floor. A battered, slightly rusted ladder drops down, nearly reaching the bottom.
We all manage to climb down, mostly without incident, save for Santorelli who catches his foot in the last rung and nearly breaks his neck trying to get himself free. Ru catches him before he totally loses his balance and sets him right. The man is saved from any further embarrassment when Ru trips, quite spectacularly, over his own tail and diverts all attention to himself. He somehow got tangled up in it while rushing to greet each of us, shaking our hands much too hard.
"Graceful, as ever, Officer Ru-Reasach," drawls a female voice. Another Kelbrid is approaching from further down the dock, what looks like a helmet tucked beneath one arm.
"Ah! Senator Cerrid! I, ah, just lost my--" he manages to get himself back on his feet quickly, and snaps a salute. The Senator ignores him.
"You must be Prince Jake," she says, incredibly bright gold eyes focusing instantly on our leader. He has to look up to meet her gaze, as she's only a little shorter than Ru. Her features are softer, but her muscles seem better defined. I guess that would make sense, as she's a solider, and Ru is basically a desk jockey.
"That'd be me," Jake says, his eyes drifting past her shoulder to another group of Kelbrids approaching.
"My pilots," the Senator explains. "We're all on our way to stavo and then a debriefing, but we thought we'd return something that belongs to you first."
The group steps aside and a pallet suspended in the air moves forward so that we can see.
Ax, or what's left of him, is laid out on it's smooth, shining surface.
"Jesus Christ..." Santorelli breathes, and Jeanne turns away, one hand over her mouth.
"I am sorry that we did not arrive fast enough to save him. From what we can tell, he put up quite a fight," the Senator says, and I catch the slight droop to her ears. It's the first display of real emotion I've seen from her.
"What are all the wires for?" I ask, stepping up closer to the gurney, willing myself not to look away. This is Ax, I at least owe him a few questions.
"The results of triage," she answers. "We tried everything we could think of, even pumping him full of regenerative nanites. His heart and lungs are working, but with significant assistance. We..." she trails off briefly before coming up to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with me.
"We haven't detected any neurological activity. He's gone, there's nothing more we can do for him."
"But, ah! That's not entirely true, Senator!" exclaims Ru, shuffling up alongside, and gesturing wildly in his uncontainable excitement.
"We could try--"
"You forget yourself, Officer Ru-Reasach," she states, once again cold and formal.
"But--!"
"What is he talking about? Is there something else you could do?" I ask, turning my head to look up at the Senator who is now pinching the bridge of her nose, clearly annoyed.
"It wouldn't be possible. The procedure that he's referring to is rarely successful, and even if we were willing to try it, we don't know enough about Andalite anatomy to--"
"I can be of service there," Menderash says, stepping forward. "I know I may not look like it, but Prince Aximili and I are of the same species."
"I am well aware of that, nothlit," she sneers. "I know an Andalite when I see one, regardless of what disguise he has chosen to dress himself in."
"Understood," Menderash replies, having chosen to do the un-Andalite thing for once and back down, at least for now. "Regardless, I can supply you with all the information you might need, if a lack thereof is all that is keeping you from proceeding."
"It is not," she says and looks away, her ears straining forward and then snapping back. "This is a matter more complicated than you could possibly know. Though I command this ship, I do not have the authority to release the technology the procedure employs to unfamiliar aliens. It cannot be done, I am sorry."
"But you must!" Menderash pleads, desperation causing him to leave all sense of reserve and decorum aside.
The Senator crosses her arms behind her back and stares down her snout at Menderash, eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. When she speaks, it is loud enough for everyone assembled on the deck to hear,
"Dismiss the envoy, Ru-Reasach, they do not have the clearance to hear any more."
Ru shoos the envoy off, and though they seem reluctant, they exit the dock quickly. The pilots, who have remained behind, look a bit nervous, each of them shifting from foot-too-foot, several sets of ears flicking aimlessly.
Once she's satisfied that the area is clear, the Senator continues,
"Tell me, Andalite, if our fortunes were reversed, if it were I stretched out on that gurney and Officer Ru-Reasach were pleading for your assistance, would you give it? Knowing that doing so would mean releasing advanced, possibly dangerous, technology to an alien species?"
"No," Menderash answers. "As an Andalite, I could not."
She nods and moves to dismiss her pilots when Menderash speaks again.
"But I am not a true Andalite anymore, am I? I have spent some time with these humans, and before that, I served under Prince Aximili who loved them more than his own people," he says, challenging her to reconsider.
"Now, I know better. I am better."
She snorts and tosses her head, opening her mouth to say what I can only assume will be another variation of "no," when a new voice resounds inside the cavernous dock.
"Oh, stop being such a damn tyrant, Cerrid!"
Another female Kelbrid, similar to the Senator in size and coloration, is loping toward us, shaking her head as she moves.
"I heard you arguing with the rest of the Senate earlier, how fiercely you demanded to intervene on their behalf," she says, standing behind the group of pilots, taking a moment to glance down at Ax.
"Brux, Tago, take the injured Prince to the hospital wing on this level. Tell whomever is on duty that I will be along shortly. You," she points at Menderash, "should follow them. I will need your help if we're going to do this."
"Etain!" the Senator snaps. "This is--"
"And I heard the absolutely shameful way you responded when they told you to leave the Andalite behind," the other Kelbrid finishes. The Senator huffs and then relaxes, flashing her predatory canines in what I hope is a sheepish smile.
"Senator Tui was deliberately trying my patience. Again." The Senator pauses, her tail twitching against the floor. Suddenly, she cocks her head to the side, "And what, exactly, were you doing eavesdropping on a Senate debate?"
"Oh, please. You eavesdrop on Piasun and me all the time!"
Suddenly, it's not a powerful Kelbrid leader and a fellow officer that we're watching, but two young women--well, you know what I mean--bickering back and forth.
"That's different. You all know what he's like!" She looks to the other pilots who are chuckling and nodding their heads. "I have to keep an ear out for my beag-deirfiur, and since we've broached the subject, our Father would roll in his grave if he could see how you two carry on!"
The pilots howl--literally, howl--with laughter and Etain's face is flushing brilliantly, the spots and rings scattered over her skin turning quite dark.
"Excuse me!" Jake shouts, his face red, a prominent pulse point throbbing at his temples. "But just who are you? What is going on here?"
The Senator holds up a hand and looks to the snickering group of pilots, "Iolars, you are all dismissed. However," and the pilots all pause, "I expect to have full reports by morning," she says. "Officer Ru-Reasach, you will stay." Ru stops mid-stride and nearly falls over again. Once the area has been cleared, Cerrid sighs and visibly relaxes.
"Now we may proceed," she says, and she undoes the clasps holding the collar of her uniform, or jumpsuit, or whatever it is, tight against her throat. The hard look on her face softens again and I'm struck by the way she puts on and removes masks, just like Jake.
"I am Etain, Chief Medical Officer of the Juy-Il," the younger Kelbrid says, turning her eyes and ears toward us.
"She's also my unscrupulous, philandering, nosy little sister," Cerrid supplies, and Etain shoots her a disapproving look.
"Hmph," the doctor waves a hand between them and looks to me. "What the illustrious Senator has said thus far is true; the procedure can be dangerous, and the number of failures far outstrip the successes. But..." She looks to the Senator who, with a nod of her head, concedes. "It wouldn't be the first time the crew of the Juy-Il ignored protocol."
"And while I anticipate the fallout over this will be rather epic, the Senate has a way of eventually agreeing with me. Still... He is an Eirabalann, Etain. I can handle a room full of angry politicians, can you handle your ena?"
Etain looks startled, drawing her head back slightly from her sister before looking at us again.
"I am a doctor, he is my patient, nothing more. I will be fine," she finally answers. "So, with your permission, I'd like to get the operating theater prepared. I also need to spend some time with the nothlit."
"Go, and adh mor ort," Cerrid says, touching her forehead to Etain's.
"I will not need luck, Senator, just knowledge and a steady hand," the doctor replies before turning and moving briskly toward the corridor that Brux, Tago, Mederash, and Ax had disappeared down earlier.
"All the same," the Senator says, more to herself than anyone else. She looks at us again, and offers a tight-lipped smile. "Etain is a brilliant surgeon, the best in our grouping," she says. "If anyone can bring the Prince back, it will be her."
"Why did you decide to help us?" I ask, still not sure just what changed the Senator's mind. She had seemed so hostile at first, and that whole scene with her sister was utterly confusing.
"Ah, appearances mean quite a bit to us, something your Andalite friends would understand--they share the same trait. Like many in my generation, I don't see the value in many of the Old Ways, but," she shrugs, "I operate in both the military and political spheres. I can't offend everyone at once, or I'll never get anything done. Aside from all that, I do have a rather notorious temper."
She snaps her tail from side to side.
"I still can't say that I think it was the right decision. But I know I will sleep better having made it."
"So how serious is the shitstorm headed your way?" Marco asks and I flinch at his crudeness.
"Shitstorm," she repeats, rolling the word over in her mouth. She tilts her head toward Ru and exchanges a few hoots and whistles with him. It looks like he's trying to explain the word to her.
"Ah, how... colorful," she concludes. "Well, Marco, the shitstorm is going to rattle a lot of windows, blow the same old trash my way, and leave a stinking mess in its wake, but I've weathered worse."
She motions for us to follow as she heads toward an archway that leads further into the ship. "The moment they allowed me to launch an offensive against the Yeerk ship, they knew how far I would push. Besides, it was only a matter of time..."
"Until what?" Jake asks, walking just behind the Senator.
She sighs and looks up, wets her lips and then looks back over her shoulder at us, "Until we had to face our past, face them."
"Who?" I ask, not really sure what she's talking about.
"The Eirabalann, the Andalites," she says simply.
"What, did you guys have a falling out or something? An old blood feud?" Marco asks, sarcasm worming its way through what would have otherwise been a legitimate question.
The Senator doesn't seem to have noticed.
"'A falling out?' I suppose you could call it that. And yes, it certainly involves blood, though not in the exact way you mean."
"Senator..." Ru says, looking nervous. "Do you think that... Now of all times?"
"We'll have to wait and see; all things happen as they must," she says, and he looks slightly less perturbed. "Officer Ru-Reasach, do you think you can escort our guests the rest of the way to their quarters? I should really try and get Senator Finnideach alone to get a game plan together before the others call a mod."
"Do you think they will go that far?" he asks, mortified.
"Oh, I'm sure of it. They have to consider appearances, too, after all," she stops at an intersection in the hallway. "Post a guard outside their avenue, they are not to be disturbed. And you," she looks at our ragtag group, "if you desire anything, you need only ask."
I breathe a sigh of relief and finally allow myself to feel, and what I feel, wave after wave, is an intense, piercing, bone-deep exhaustion.
"The ship will adapt to each of your individual needs as it acclimates to you. For now, your living quarters are still designed for a Kelbrid. I hope you're not uncomfortable," she says before turning down the opposite hall, head low, pace brisk. She has much to do.
"Everything will be fine," Ru says, ushering us down the hallway that leads to our quarters. Both walls are perfectly smooth and I can't see any doors.
"I will open the suite for you the first time, you should find it easy to do yourselves after you've seen it done once," he says, stopping at what seems to be a random point. "Simply think 'open,' or just think of the room, and..." he pauses, stares at the wall, and a ripple disturbs the smooth surface, morphing into a wide, elegant arch. Lights brighten steadily inside, revealing a comfortable--if plain--semi-circle of little apartments, connected by a common dining area.
"When you've chosen your room, just ask the ship to bring up a wall in front if you want some privacy. So long as the ship is capable, and so long as your request does not break any laws or vital programming, it will comply to the best of it's ability."
Normally, we probably would have been impressed, and at least one of us would have wanted a detailed explanation of just how this technology works, but instead we thank Ru and plod towards our individual beds (they look more like huge, well-cushioned, papisan chairs). Jake's wall is the first to come up, and the rest of us follow suit. The ship almost feels eager to do as we wish, and it is just as easy as Ru had assured us. I morph, aware, as always, of the 2 hour time limit. With little effort, I lift off the ground and find purchase on the back of what looks like a chair. It's not my favorite tree, but it's good enough for now.
Before I succumb to sleep, my thoughts return to Ax. He's somewhere inside this ship, maybe being prepped for surgery, maybe already being worked on. I can only hope that when I wake up, there will be good news waiting for me, for us.
We don't seem to get nearly enough these days.
There's something else nibbling at the back of my mind, pestering me to examine it further, but I don't have the energy. Whatever it is, it'll have to wait. I deserve a break, so whatever this paranoid thought is, I ignore it.
The lights in my room dim.
The darkness swallows me up.
At long last, sleep comes.
Lyrics: "Wonderwall," Oasis.
