"Hello?" Beka called out when she emerged from Tyr's room later that evening. After breakfast she has spent the day lounging about the main cavern. Tamerlane had gone about his business, checking in on her occasionally to see if she needed anything. It had been years since Beka Valentine had absolutely nothing to do, no schedule, no deadlines, nothing. So she read a trashy holonovel and taken a nap.
"Tamerlane?" Beka called to him as she began looking around the cavern. It wasn't that big. She checked the blast door which was closed and locked. He was nowhere to be found. Beka's eyes scanned the room once more, her eyes falling on the holographic walls, one showed the evening sun setting on the surface, the other revealed a large opening in the rock.
'That's where he's disappearing to,' Beka thought to herself as she ventured into the opening.
She hadn't gone far before she emerged into an enlarged cavern. It was smaller than the main cavern, about twice the size of her bedroom. There were plants everywhere. Hydroponic gardens providing a bountiful array of food. She continued through the cavern when she spotted another opening in the far wall. The tunnel was a short one and Beka stopped suddenly when she heard the sound of music – loud, raucous, offbeat music.
She peeked slowly around the corner into a tiny cavern lit by flickering candles. The moist heat from the air caught her offguard. It was nearly suffocating. There was a pool of greenish blue water with steam rising off the surface. Beka peeked a little further when she noticed a ripple move across the surface. She saw Tamerlane standing in waist deep water. His shoulders rolled gently causing the muscles to ripple. Beka felt a wave of heat roll over her body followed closely by the slight horror she felt that she was checking out Tyr's baby son.
'Pervert.' She chastised herself. But the vision of manly perfection before her was … amazing. Her gaze traveled up from the narrow waist up to the broadening shoulders. He seemed to be as tall as Tyr had been. His body shaped nearly identical with wide shoulders and chest, narrowing at the waist, long legs. She did think he was smaller than Tyr in the muscle department. He was in proportion, nicely chiseled musculature just not as big as she remembered Tyr. Beka frowned slightly when she noticed Tamerlane's hand move from his shoulder to reveal a rather nasty jagged wound. Beka peered harder through the haze. It was fresh and puffy. She looked around her in the darkness of the cavern and tunnels wondering just how he had gotten it on this barren, Divine forsaken rock.
His movements pulled her from her thoughts. She averted her eyes as he slowly pulled himself from the water on the other side. Beka hurried back through the tunnel, the Hydroponics garden and into the main cavern. She was lounging in a chair when Tamerlane emerged from the tunnel a few moments later. He paused slightly when he saw her sitting there. Then hurried through the cavern to his bedroom.
"Nasty wound," Beka murmured a while later as they each sat in the main cavern. His eyes slowly lifted from the flexi he had been reading. When Tamerlane had emerged from his room a short time ago, Beka has been engrossed her flexi. He had offered her a snack but she hadn't been interested. Since then, the cavern had been silent except for the occasional beep from a flexi.
His gaze gave nothing away as he regarded her for a moment.
"Excuse me?" Tamerlane asked his brow furrowed questioningly as if he had no idea what she was talking about.
"Your back," Beka gestured toward him. "For someone who never leaves the planet that is one nasty wound. Something around here I should know about?"
"I never said I never leave the planet," Tamerlane replied as he clicked off the flexi.
"Listen. I know your father," Beka turned off her flexi as well as she swung her feet off the arm of the chair. "You live on a barren planet in the middle of freaking nowhere. I sincerely doubt he grants you the freedom to come and go as you please. So tell me Tamerlane Anasazi – how the hell did you get a fresh knife wound in your back?"
His eyes narrowed on Beka for a moment. His gaze ran over her as she remained seat in the chair across the room. He noticed her gun harness lay at her feet. It had not been there earlier.
"It is nothing," Tamerlane replied as he got to his feet. Beka followed his movements as he opened a drawer to replace the flexi. "There is nothing on this planet that threatens your safety either."
"I bet you say that to all the girls," Beka murmured under her breath. She watched as he seemed to search for something is the drawer,
"I would hardly call that nothing," Beka finally said as she stood up and crossed the room. She reached up and tugged the edge of his vest, revealing the nasty gash.
She felt Tamerlane flinch and suddenly the atmosphere felt tense. Beka withdrew her hand and took a step back. The realization overwhelmed her then that her comfort came from knowing the father not this son. She really did not know this male.
"Filthy Nightsider stabbed me in the back," Tamerlane growled softly. There was a hint of malice in the soft tone that sent a shiver up Beka's spine. His eyes had a dangerous glint in them as he turned to look at her. She saw the Nietzschean in him then.
"Nightsider?" Beka's brow creased. "Here? Where? What?"
"On Kintau Drift," Tamerlane replied as he rolled the shoulder testing the wound.
"When you left the message for me?" Beka questioned. That would have been at least … three days ago.
"It should have been an easy drop," Tamerlane replied as he pulled a flexi from the file and closed the drawer with a resounding slam. "Apparently the Nightsider was displeased … with its last … transaction with Tyr. When it saw me …"
"It thought you were Tyr," Beka concluded.
"Not exactly," Tamerlane shrugged. He regarded Beka for a moment before a smirked crossed his lips. The expression in his eyes was cool. "Let's say … it won't make the error again."
"You killed it?" Beka raised her eyebrows. For some reason she had perceived Tamerlane as naïve and unthreatening. 'He's not a baby' Beka reminded herself.
"It stabbed me in the back," Tamerlane's voice was cold and distant. "What would you have me do?" His voice drifted off as he turned from her and walked over to the holopanel. Beka found it interesting how he looked out of it as you would a window. The feed was truly amazing – it seemed very real.
"Let me take a look at it," Beka crossed the room and turned him to face her. She didn't think twice before unfastening the vest and sliding her hands inside. Her hands ran up his chest as she tried to slip the material from his body. Tamerlane caught her hands and pulled them from his body. Beka looked up into the steady gaze that bore into hers and swallowed slowly.
"I am fine," Tamerlane dropped her hands. Her sudden move and the sensation that accompanied her hands on his skin were unsettling to him.
'You're a stubborn ass just like your father," Beka snapped as her temper flared. "I should let your wound rot into a putrid puddle of Nightsider crap."
"You are not fine," Beka took a deep breath before sliding her hands under his vest once again. She pushed the fabric from his shoulders and let in fall to the floor. She turned him firmly and grimaced when she saw the wound up close. She guided him over to a cushion on the floor and urged him to sit.
"Stay there," Beka instructed before disappearing into Tyr's room. She emerged a moment later with her smaller backpack. She placed it on the ground before retrieving another cushion to place on the floor behind Tamerlane. She rummaged around in the pack, pulling out ammo and ammo and more ammo and weapons before she finally extracted a medical kit. Beka paused when she noticed Tamerlane's gaze on the weaponry from her bag..
"I thought it was a message from Tyr. Didn't know what I might be getting myself into," she shrugged. "The universe is a dangerous place."
"I am guessing your wound has not healed as you thought," Beka began as she opened up the kit and pulled out an instrument.
"No," Tamerlane admitted as he watched her rummage some more. "Normally my immune system would have healed it more quickly."
"And not even extra injections of medically programmed nanobots have done the trick," Beka's fingertips traced over the injection sites around the wound. She pulled another instrument from the pack and laid it next to the first.
"Nightsiders are … disgusting creatures," Beka began as she pulled her knife from the backpack. Tamerlane's eyes flew to the blade as she unsheathed it.
"Trust me?" Beka posed the question as she turned the knife gently in her hand allowing the light of the fire to glint off the blade. Tamerlane's gaze moved from the blade to her face and back to the blade again.
"Yes Beka," Tamerlane finally replied as his gaze met her. "I … trust … you."
"Good," Beka cupped his jaw and turned his face forward. "This might hurt a little."
Tamerlane's body flinched and the pain tore through his shoulder as Beka's blade sliced quickly though the tissue that was trying but failing to heal itself. Beka heard the sharp intake of breath as she dropped the knife to the side and pulled the edges of the wound apart, allowing the blood, infection and putrid tissue to flow freely from the gaping new wound.
"Sorry," Beka apologized as she continued pressing the tissue around the wound. She knew it had to hurt like the abyss. Even Nietzscheans felt pain even if they would never admit it. "No anesthesia."
"I'm fine," Tamerlane's voice was but a gasp as he gritted him teeth as the waves of pain coursed through his shoulder.
"Your father used to say the same damn thing," Beka murmured to herself as she picked up a cloth and cleaned around the wound so she could see down into it. "Stubborn ass Nietzschean." Her voice trailed off.
'Nightsiders make their knives with hundreds of teeny tiny teeth," Beka began as she pressed one of her instruments into the wound and began following the tract the blade had created. It hummed and buzzed and beeped. "The teeth are designed to break off in the wound. The Nightsiders routinely … taint the teeth with … Nightsider excretions. Poison if you will. It causes a nasty, nasty infection."
"Sorry," Beka apologized before pushing the probe even deeper into his back. Beka heard Tamerlane make a sound between a groan and a growl. She smiled faintly taking a perverse pleasure in his pain. She blindly probed deep into wound before slowly beginning to extract it. It continued to hum but no longer beeped.
"There," Beka handed the bloody tool to Tamerlane. He could see the tiny metallic fragments in the collection chamber.
"Your engineered immune system should have you fixed up in no time," Beka pulled a vial from her bag and started to pour it in the wound.
"You're not allergic to calendula?" Beka paused before dumping the liquid into the open wound.
"Calendula?" Tamerlane looked back over his shoulder at the vial of pale purple liquid. The intense pain resulting from her probing the wound was making it difficult for him to focus on her words.
"Calendula," Beka nodded as she shook the vial. "It is a disinfectant medicine with some numbing properties. Some Nietzschean are … deathly … allergic to it."
"I would hate to kill Tyr's son," Beka raised her eyebrows waiting for a response. " Trying to save his life. Tyr would probably never forgive me."
"I think I'll be fine," Tamerlane looked at the vial suspiciously.
"Without it," he snapped harshly as he grabbed Beka's wrist when she made a move to pour the liquid.
"Owww," Beka exclaimed as she tried to pull away painful grasp. "I thought you meant fine with using it."
"I have no idea what that is," Tamerlane replied as he released her wrist.
"Better not use it then," Beka replied as she put the cap back on the vial. She placed it back in the vial and pulled out a clear, colorless liquid and grabbed some gauze. Tamerlane eyed the vial suspiciously as Beka unscrewed the cap.
"Not so sure you trust me anymore," Beka waved the bottle back and forth as Tamerlane's gaze followed. His eyes left the bottle and looked at her. She seemed almost amused at his concern. He searched her expression for a moment before drawing in a deep breath. He turned his face from hers and steeled himself for the pain he knew was to come.
"There," Beka said a short time later as she finished swabbing the fluid streaming out of the wound. She knew pouring the concentrated Chinacea into the wound would be painful so she did it three times. She was impressed that he had not uttered a sound as the caustic liquid had cleaned the debris and putrefied tissue from the wound. The liquid ran clear indicating it had done its job. The puffiness was already fading and she could see the signs of early healing. "You should be as good as new tomorrow."
She began gathering up her supplies and put them back in the kit.
"Thank you," Tamerlane handed her the probe she had used. He had cleaned the blood from it for her.
"About before," Tamerlane caught her hand as she reached around him for something. His fingertips lightly caressed the reddened skin where he had grabbed her earlier.
"You're Nietzschean," Beka shrugged as she allowed him to touch her wrist. He looked at her quizzically. "I'm surprised you let me near you with a knife. Your reaction was … normal … when I possibly threatened your life."
"Nietzschean," Tamerlane murmured stroked his fingertips over her skin. "Is no reason to hurt you."
"I'm fine," Beka smiled faintly as she extracted her hand from his. She continued to clean up the mess. Tamerlane cleaned the knife, sheathed it and handed it back to her. When she grasped it, he failed to let go, Beka looked at him.
"I am … sorry," he murmured softly as his gaze dropped to her wrist once again. Beka's head tilted slightly as she regarded him with an odd expression. No Nietzschean had even apologized to her before for anything they had ever done. She didn't think Nietzscheans ever apologized for anything.
"I … forgive you?" Beka said slowly, not really knowing how to respond. It must have been right because Tamerlane released the knife. Beka shoved it back in her bag then retreated to Tyr's room to put it away.