7
Blackness. Water.
Light.
The Doctor broke the surface. He gasped for air, great whooping lungfuls. Every muscle in his body was in spasming agony. He dragged himself to the bank and lay, chest heaving. It had taken his body nearly the entire ten minutes of air that his respiratory bypass system could provide him to produce the necessary chemicals and immobilize the toxin. He panted for air, his lungs burning.
Finally, his breathing slowed. He sat up, and had to bite back a yelp of pain. Though his muscles worked once more, they ached abominably.
But he had to get moving. He had to warn them. Before…
He stumbled to his feet with a moan. Had to warn them. Had to…
…
A flash of agony ran through Jenny's head like a hot knife. She'd been worried about Father today, and not really sure why. But something must have been wrong. Something was wrong, and he was hurting.
Jumping from her seat, she sprinted down the corridor. Somebody was shouting something.
"Get him in here! Quick!"
Around the bend, three people were supporting the Doctor between them. He was soaking wet, his hair plastered to his head. Muddy water dripped from him. He looked semi-conscious.
"What the hell happened?" Jenny demanded, pushing aside another man to put her shoulder under her father's arm. His skin was hot, too hot for her liking.
"I don't know!" the gawky man called Orlo said, "We found him jus' lyin' there by the entry, looking like this."
"We need to get him set down. The medical area's too far. Bring him in here."
They laid him out on one of the dining tables. Jenny checked his heart rates. Too low. She pressed a hand against her father's forehead. Be damned to trying to look normal.
Father?
Oh, do you have to shout? My head aches enough as it is.
Jenny let out a little sigh. What have you done to yourself now?
Give me a minute to get my body in working order and I'll tell you.
"He's alright." Jenny said aloud, "He'll wake up in a minute."
Orlo nodded, looking confused. Jenny hadn't registered that there was a crowd around her, but people were staring over her shoulder.
Her attention snapped back as her father's eyes opened. He winced.
"You could've found me a bed."
"I was more worried about you being alive than comfortable." The Doctor glared at her, then tried to sit up. A little sound of pain escaped his gritted teeth. Jenny put an arm around him, helping him sit up."What got you?"
"Fast acting paralytic agent, courtesy of Lynch." The Doctor panted. "Found out what he was doing. He tried to kill me. They're going to destroy the holts on the western-most lake, and they're shooting on sight. Today. You've got…" he swallowed harshly, "You've got to get there. Warn them. I'll…be along as soon as I can."
Jenny nodded. She stood. "There's going to be an attack on the westernmost lake. We need to warn the holt there. Which one is it?"
"Ereem Lake." Orlo said, "And there's three holts."
Jenny nodded. "Then I'll need three people. We've got to warn them and get them evacuated today."
"I will travel by river." Keets said, and another ekeen joined him.
"Then we'll take Jema holt." A dark-skinned man said. "I'm Jorl. I know the area."
"Right." Jenny said, "We need to move, and fast. Let's go."
…..
Jenny ducked as another transport went rumbling past. Jorl crouched beside her, his breathing harsh in her ears. They'd already warned Jema Holt, and given the members instructions to stay under cover as much as possible as they left. Now they were going to meet up with the other two at Retya Holt.
"Close call." Jorl murmured. Jenny nodded. They began to move.
It wasn't easy keeping cover in an area as open as Sunday's Slim Forest, with its widely spaced trees, but they were doing alright. They were nearly there when Jenny's ears picked up a sound. Gunfire. She took off running. Jenny reached behind her as she ran, opening a pocket and feeling for what she needed. Her fingers closed on her favorite weapon. She tugged the long spear free, pointing its head ahead of her. It shone, energy crackling along its point. Charged and ready.
….
"I'm fine." The Doctor said, "And I need to get out there."
"You're not fine." The wiry-haired nurse snapped back, "In fact if you were anybody else you'd probably be dead." She held his arm, preventing him from going up the stairwell out of the holt. The Doctor grimaced "Trust me, I'm a doctor and I can say for myself when-" He turned as the holt door opened, just in time to catch a girl who came stumbling down the stairs. She was shivering and sobbing hysterically."They're killing people!" she screeched, her face covered with blood and stained with grime, "They killed everybody!"
The nurse rushed to the panicking girl. She barely noticed the Doctor as he raced up the stairs.
….
The battle was nearly over when Jenny arrived. There were only two mercenaries firing on a knot of people. Jenny cut them down.
There were bodies everywhere. Ahead of her, where there had once been a holt, a great, sunken hole still smoked. They must have blasted it with explosives.
She was too late.
Jenny walked among the dead. Nearly the entire population of the holt. Here and there were children, even a few babies. Everyone. Dead.
Her eye was caught for a moment, and her numbed brain finally kicked in. Smudged ear. Keets.
She knelt beside the sad little bundle of fur that had, not long ago, been a brave leader.
"Halt! Stay where you are!"
Jenny looked up from the furry body, her eyes burning with pain and hate. She lunged forward. A moment later the man was down, her spear tip at his throat.
"You killed him. You killed them. In cold blood." she ground out, staring down at the man. He wriggled, his mouth open as if to say something. She slammed a foot down on his chest."They were noncombatants!" she shouted into his face. Then she drew herself up. "Under your own laws, the penalty for killing noncombatants is death."
She didn't blink as feet came crashing through the underbrush.
"Jenny!"
Jenny barely moved as her father came running up. She could hear his breathing where he stood, a foot away from her. "Jenny, don't do it."
"He killed Keets. He killed unarmed civilians. He deserves it."
"And how does that make anything right?"
"It's justice." she snapped out, staring down at the murderer. Footsteps crackled on the grass.
"No it isn't." her father's quiet voice rang through the clearing. "Not like this. It feels like killing this man will let the pain out and avenge them. But that kind of killing gets into your head and your hearts and never lets go. It infects you. It changes who you are. You're a soldier, Jenny. A soldier doesn't kill prisoners in cold blood."
Jenny glared down into the eyes of the man at her mercy, her breathing harsh in her ears, her hands trembling on the haft of her spear.
Slowly, her weapon lowered. She kicked the man, then turned and walked away, her eyes burning with tears that she wouldn't shed.
"Jenny."
She turned on her father, throwing a punch, and was caught and enveloped in his tight arms and his trench coat.
"You did the right thing." he murmured into her hair. For a moment, she struggled against his hold, but he didn't let her go. He held her tight, even as she began to cry.
…
The crowd around the council table was silent.
"What do you want to do?" Candice asked quietly. She'd gone beyond shock. At the head of the table, Council President Dory Chan shook her head. "We'll have to fight them. It's the only way."
"The people in Sunday are ready to raise up a millita for colonial defense." Another councilor said. There were murmurs of agreement.
"No." All eyes turned on the Doctor. He shook his head, coming out of his reverie. "No. A fight is just a stop-gap method. And a pretty poor one at that. You can't win a decisive battle against them, they've got too much power. And you can't call for aid, being a human colony under Earth jurisdiction. It'll take too long to sort it out in the courts and the damage will have been done. So, we'll do this another way."
"What way?" Chan asked carefully.
"This way." the Doctor said, turning on his heel. "Come on. Keep up. I need three ekeen at least, and whoever else wants to come."
And he strode from the room. For a moment, the Councilors stared at one another. Then, almost as one creature, they followed.
