Unfortunately, while I fell asleep easily enough, my rest was anything but sound.
I found myself in a room, every wall a mirror. Even the ceiling and floor! Everywhere I turned, I saw my face looking back… my new one… and, more shockingly, my old one! Tarnaa was there, seemingly dozens of copies of her. And, all of the humans were riding her! Stranger still, these other versions of myself were all chanting the same thing… "Save yourselves! Beware the crown!"
The chant was so loud and insistent that it eventually yanked me savagely awake, sitting bolt upright in bed, sweat trickling down my back, my whole body trembling.
Lifemate? Tarnaa crooned, head caressing my cheek. What's wrong?
I'm not sure, my heart, I honestly replied, trembling hands wiping the sweat out of my eyes. A warning, I think.
From who?
It sounded crazy to me as I told her, My other selves!
Quantum ergokinesis… the ability to travel trans-dimensionally. Quantum jumping… the sharing of knowledge with a different version of yourself but from another dimension. Chuckling to myself, all I could do was shake my head. How could the psionics testers back at the Star Service Academy been so profoundly wrong about me… and the considerable abilities that I manifested once I reached Pern? It made no sense!
Following a quick breakfast and a satphone check-in with the staff at Robinton Cove, I set off to wander around Landing, hoping the explorations would help me figure out how best to address my unexpected new duties as Pern's ambassador to the Kendites. In the midst of this mental rumination, two of the healer-riders from Robinton Cove sought me out, puzzled by several recent patients and the illnesses they were dealing with.
"Ambassador," Bren, gold Varlath's rider, began.
"Bren," I sighed, crossing my arms in front of my chest, frowning at her.
"Sorry… Dana," Sallah, gold Milith's rider, apologized, nodding. "I know how you feel about titles, but… it's just we're so excited for you!"
"What can I do for you?" I asked, getting down to business.
"We've got a couple of patients," Bren picked up the conversation, "presenting confusing symptoms."
"This way," I directed, heading off to my temporary home in the old Quonset hut where we'd be a lot more comfortable. Once inside, I pulled up some chairs to a convenient table before asking, "What've you got?"
"Two patients," Sallah began, setting some papers on the table between us. "A fortyish holder… and a young seven-year-old crafter's daughter."
"Go on."
"The holder presented with a high fever, severe cough, and bilateral pneumonia," Bren reported, pulling up additional data on her wrist computer.
"The crafter child was brought to us," Sallah added, tapping the notes she had, "showing only a low grade fever but with slight bluing of her lips."
"Scary thing with her is that almost as soon as she was brought in," Bren whispered, clearly concerned, "she suffered heart failure!"
"You're serious?!" I gasped, leaning forward in my chair.
Sallah nodded. "Thankfully, because of the med gear you brought down to Robinton Cove from the colony ships, we were able to successfully resuscitate her and get her stabilized."
I glanced at the two queen healer-riders, commenting, "You think these two cases share a common cause."
Bren and Sallah both gasped, glancing at each other before turning back to me.
"Sharding hell, Dana," Bren muttered, shaking her head. "I don't know how you guessed, but you're right."
"We found each patient was somehow infected with the same virus," Sallah responded, tapping some keys on her wrist computer. "We might never have caught it except for the sophisticated diagnostics the med stations can perform."
Tapping a final key on her wrist computer, she brought up a holographic image of the virus.
"We've seen numerous different types of viruses," Bren commented, gesturing at the image, "but nothing seems to match this bug that looks like it's wearing some sort of crown."
Thanks to my first contactor medical training, I recognized it almost at once, filling me with a dread I couldn't put a name to.
"Corona!" I hissed, eyes threatening to bug out of my head.
"What?" Sallah wondered, noting the fear on my face. "What do you mean corona?"
"It's another word for a crown," I hissed, the dream I'd had now manifesting a greater foreboding. "Sharding hell!"
"What are you talking about?" Bren wondered, clearly confused.
"It's a coronavirus," I growled, wondering how this could be. "Spread through respiratory droplets, it can manifest a host of different symptoms, including what your two patients have presented with." Pounding my fist on the table, I cursed, "After all we've been through, now this?!"
"You know what this is?!" Sallah gasped.
I nodded. "Something like this hit old Earth back in the early 21st century. It was first reported in a town in a country called China. Within weeks, it had spread around the planet, quickly becoming a global pandemic. In the old United States, in the first couple of months, it killed over 60,000 people!"
"By the First Egg!" Bren hissed, her face turning pale. "Like what Moreta and the others dealt with all those Turns ago?!"
Grimly, I nodded.
"Where did it come from?" Sallah whispered. "Did those people from the Federation…"
Vigorously, I shook my head. "Every member of the Federation Star Service receives a nanite infusion that is designed to neutralize pathogens like viruses, bacteria, or fungi. Even the vessel's environmental system is designed to eliminate this sort of thing. A virus needs a host to survive. Wherever this thing came from, it's home-grown, originating somewhere on this planet. I…"
Sallah and Bren looked up when I hesitated. I had risen from my chair, my eyes oddly unfocused, a guttural growl coming from my throat.
"Dana?" Bren quietly asked. "You okay?"
"I taste blood," I whispered, hunching my shoulders, my eyes taking on a frightening, fierce expression.
"Dana, what's wrong?" Sallah wondered, laying a hand on my arm.
She gasped, jumping back a step when their friend and mentor unexpectedly turned to her, growling menacingly.
"Dana?!" Bren begged, coming up beside Sallah, clearly concerned. Turning to her friend, she asked, "You don't think she caught it?"
"Blood," Sallah mused, shifting her feet nervously as I continued to growl incoherently. "Oh, sharding hell!"
She ran out the door, leaving the stunned Bren behind. Just when Bren thought she was going to be hurt, Sallah returned.
"Tarnaa bloods her kill!" she reported, pointing frantically out the door.
"Now?!" Bren gasped.
"Go find L'trel!" Sallah ordered, guiding her snarling mentor over to the bed. "Move it!" Shouting out the window, she ordered her own dragon, "Milith, get out of here! Return to the hospital!"
But, lifemate…
"Go!" Sallah demanded, her tone of voice brooking no disobedience.
Her queen gave one pitiful squeak but complied, leaping skyward and then vanishing between.
Rise! Swerve! Invert! Dive! Avoid! Taunt! Climb! Evade! Mourn! Entangled! Defiant! Entwine! Joyful! Unite! Blissful!
Slowly, after what seemed a lifetime of confusion, awareness slowly returned. I felt inexplicably drained… yet, perversely, fulfilled somehow. As I gradually took in my surroundings, I realized I was still in my Quonset hut quarters at Landing.
"How do you feel?" a familiar face inquired as he leaned into view.
"L'trel?" I whispered, not having strength for much else.
As I looked more closely, I realized with a start that he had no clothes on… and neither did I, sending a blush flooding my skin from my nose to my toes!
"What's going on?!" I demanded, pulling the covers up around my nudity. "What happened? Why are we…"
"Tarnaa rose to mate," L'trel quietly explained, brushing a lock of hair out of my eyes. "Bren and Sallah were with you when it happened. They said you were totally out of it… didn't know what was happening."
"Tarnaa… rose… to mate?" I hissed, my voice reduced to an awed whisper.
This was nothing like what I had experienced briefly when I had psychically bonded with Brekke's queen. At least, back then, I had been aware of what was happening. But this…
"All the stories I'd heard," I mused; recalling everything I could about mating flights. "Stars above, I don't remember any of it!"
"Still, you must've been aware, even dimly," L'trel remarked, planting a tender kiss on my blushing cheek. "I've never seen a dragon move like Tarnaa did! Must've somehow tapped into all that piloting experience you had. Nimble as a fire lizard and as slippery as a tunnel snake! Sharding hell, what a flight! I was honestly afraid we'd never catch the two of you!"
"You and I… we…"
L'trel nodded, smiling kindly.
"I don't remember any of it," I muttered, inexplicably disappointed by that fact.
"We could pick this back up now that you've regained your senses," L'trel teased, tickling one of my nipples through the bed covering.
"I can't," I argued, throwing back the cover and swinging my naked legs over the side of the bed. "We're facing a potential pandemic not unlike what Moreta…"
"Sallah and Bren are already on it," L'trel cut me off, tossing me my top so that I could at least cover myself while he held the bed covering around his waist. "And if it is what you suspect, then you are definitely not going anywhere near it in your condition."
"What are you talking about?" I wondered, hastily throwing on my top.
L'trel held up a portable med scanner. It was making a strange noise, one that shouldn't have been possible. I yanked the scanner out of his hand, double-checking the findings it was registering.
"By the First Egg!" I hissed, trying to privately deny what the damned device was revealing. "I… I… I'm…"
"Pregnant," L'trel finished for me, taking the scanner from me while planting the tenderest of kisses on my cheek. "So you are definitely not going anywhere near that damned virus!"
"This shouldn't be possible!" I complained, throwing my hands into the air. "Even under absolutely ideal conditions, it takes several minutes for fertilization to take place!"
"Actually, according to what I've heard," L'trel calmly remarked, laying an arm gently across my shoulders, "Fellth and Tarnaa took nearly an hour to consummate their joining."
"An hour?!" I gasped, staring up at his embarrassed smile. "And all during that time, you and I… we…"
"Yeah," L'trel mumbled, his own face turning crimson.
"Oh," I whispered.
Well, given that amount of time, what the scanner was doggedly reporting was at least possible. Glancing down, I lightly ran my hand over my currently flat abdomen.
"Dana, if you'd rather not…"
My hand on his lips brought instant silence.
"It'll be alright, L'trel," I assured him, smiling as I planted a gentle kiss on his slightly quivering lips. "It's my first time, is all. I promise… we'll pick up where we left off later. I want to be fully in control of my senses the next time it happens. But right now, I have to see what I can do about the virus."
"Is it that bad?" he asked, handing me my underthings before turning away.
"If this is like what hit old Earth back in the early 21st century," I responded, pulling off my top before slipping into my bra and panty, "60,000 people could die in the next couple of months."
"Shards and shells!" L'trel hissed, turning to see me slipping into my top. "Then you definitely can't go out there, not if that thing's loose on the planet!"
"I won't have to," I replied, scooting into my pants before picking up the commlink I still had from the Exiles crisis.
First call went to the Wolfhound.
"Admiral, how long would it take the Wolfhound to reach Pun Ch'lar?"
"At best possible speed… nearly six months! Why?"
"I don't suppose you have a spare nanite dispenser aboard your vessel, do you?" I asked.
"No," Admiral Morgan grunted. His tone of voice changed. "That's why you were asking about Pun Ch'lar. They're the closest Federation world to Pern that would have the dispenser!"
"How long would it take an FTL message to reach the Matriarch?"
"With the Q.E. comm links," he responded, "just a few minutes. Why?"
"Key's still here at Landing, right?" I asked, turning to L'trel.
"I think so," he replied, glancing out the window as he hurried to put on his own clothes. "Your friends have been looking into fixing up some of the Quonset huts as temporary housing for our visitors. Why?"
"Admiral, still there?" I asked into the comm link.
"Affirmative, Sterling."
"Send a message to the Matriarch," I instructed him. "Tell her to meet Key and his ch'hin, Kara, at the place she and I first met. Ask her to please bring a nanite dispenser to the meeting site."
"Those things weigh several tons, Sterling."
"Yes, and Shi No Hakobi-Te weighed in at over 50 billion metric tons."
The Wolfhound's commander paused a moment. "Think they can shift something that far?"
"If their riders believe they can, Admiral!" I replied, grinning from ear-to-ear.
"I'll believe it when I see it, Sterling," he chuckled, but I could tell he was convinced. "I'll get that message off right away. Wolfhound out!"
Glinalth? I silently inquired. Is Kara with you?
Yes, Masterhealer! her dragon instantly replied.
I picked up my satphone and dialed a number.
"Dana, what's going on?" Kara wondered, clearly concerned. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, but I need your help."
"How?" she responded.
"Admiral Morgan is sending an FTL message to the Matriarch of the Kendite people," I explained, "asking if she can provide us with a nanite dispenser and to bring it to the location she and I first met. I need you and Glinalth to take Key to her on Pun Ch'lar."
"To Pun Ch'lar?!" Kara gasped, clearly not expecting this. "You mean, go off-planet?!"
I heard a rustling noise and a different voice came over the satphone. "Ch'hin, what's going on?"
"I need your help, ch'har," I replied. "We're seeing evidence of a coronavirus here on Pern. If we don't act quickly, thousands of people around the planet could die."
"A nanite dispenser!" Key concluded. "Of course! Pun Ch'lar is the closest Federation world that would have one!"
"I want you and Kara to go to Pun Ch'lar on Glinalth and bring one back," I explained. "Admiral Morgan is sending a message as we speak asking Zucanno Om Lis Malu to bring the dispenser to the place where we first met."
"The wedding site!" Key concluded.
"I'd go myself," I explained, feeling a blush come to my face, "but thanks to Tarnaa's recent mating flight, I'm… Well, suffice it to say you're going to be an uncle one day, ch'har."
There was such a profound pause, I was afraid my Kendite brother was going to faint!
"By the Fire Falls of Firlea!" he finally whispered. Abruptly clearing his throat, he added, "Kara's coming over now. We're on our way, ch'hin! Don't worry. We won't let you down!"
"Be sure you both wear space suits," I cautioned him. "This is a lot farther than any dragon has ever tried to teleport yet. It's going to be a lot longer between than just a few seconds. Best as I can recall, the jump will cover nearly 230 light-years. You'll need the oxygen in your suits in order to make it."
"And Kara's dragon?"
"They can survive in the vacuum of space for about ten minutes before they start suffering hypoxia," I explained. "I'm praying the jump doesn't take that long."
"We might be able to do it in stages, ch'hin," Key excitedly reported. "We scouted several worlds on our way here. I was on the ground survey teams for each."
"That won't work," I muttered, shaking my head. "The dragon has to take the visual from your mind."
I see the places he's been to, Masterhealer, Glinalth unexpectedly interrupted. I can make the jumps we need.
"By the First Egg!" I whispered, taken totally unaware by this latest development.
"By the Fire Falls of Firlea!" I heard Key hiss over the satphone.
Ancestors, how could this be? A Pern dragon taking a fix from a Kendite?! The weyrfolk were never going to believe this!
"You heard that?!" Key whispered before clearing his throat. "No, wait, that's right. You can hear any dragon! But how could I possibly… Ch'hin, what does it mean?"
I burst out laughing, which left L'trel none the wiser about the monumental event that had just occurred.
"It means, ch'har," I chuckled, giving L'trel a gentle hug, "that those idiots back at the Academy were dead wrong about our psionic abilities! Never mind. We'll sort this out later. Just remember your memories were seen from ground level. If you use the same ones to make these jumps, you could end up materializing inside solid rock. You're going to have to project those images as though you were seeing those spots from high astride Glinalth. Do you understand?"
There was a long pause before my Kendite brother finally, grimly replied, "Roger that."
I understand, Masterhealer, Glinalth chimed in. We can do this!
"Alright, suit up you two and the three of you get going. We're counting on you!"
With that, I turned off the satphone and set it on a nearby table. As I turned back to L'trel, his expression betrayed his confusion.
"Did I follow that right? Your friend can hear dragons?!"
I didn't say a word; just giggled with delight as I hugged my weyrmate tightly.
"Going off-planet," L'trel whispered, laying his trembling hand against my cheek. "Do you think they'll make it?"
"Depends on how far dragons can teleport," I sighed, shrugging. "We've never had a reason to test it before now. It'll also depend on how far apart the survey worlds that Key visited were."
We'll try and call you when we reach each world, Masterhealer, Glinalth informed me. Wish us luck. Here we go!
"Glinalth, wait!" I suddenly cried out.
Masterhealer? Kara's dragon responded. What is wrong? My lifemate and your friend are puzzled.
"Ask Key if he brought a QE2 with him," I spoke aloud and sent at the same time.
He says it is standard on any Federation shuttle. Ah, now I see! He calls your other friend!
"Dav, it's Key," I heard my friend radio over the commlink. "We need a pair of QE2s. Bring one to me and take the other to Dana."
"On it!" Dav instantly replied.
"What by the First Egg is a QE2?" L'trel wondered, completely confused.
"A portable quantum entanglement communicator," I explained, planting a tender kiss on L'trel's cheek. "Because of the unique nature of quantum physics and quantum mechanics, these devices, once synced, can instantaneously communicate across vast distances, even as far away as Pun Ch'lar."
"I think I follow," L'trel quietly remarked, rubbing his chin. "We don't know how far dragon telepathy will reach. This will give you a means of staying in touch with the retrieval team while we test just how far dragons can go!"
Smiling, I nodded.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. When I opened it, grinning Dav was standing there, holding out the QE2 I was going to use.
"Here you go, Skipper," he jovially spoke, passing the device to me. "Never thought this little backwater world could be so exciting!"
"Stick around," I chuckled, switching the QE2 on. "You ain't seen nothing yet!"
Keying the mike on the portable transmitter, I called, "Key, this is Dana. Ready for synchronization."
There was a short pause. A translucent ring on the front of the device turned green, and I heard, "Synchronization complete. We're ready to depart."
"Stay safe, you three," I called over the QE2. "Now get going! All of Pern is counting on you!"
"Roger that, ch'hin," Key radioed back. "We're away!"
Having been through so many takeoffs and jumps between, I didn't need to be there to share the thrill of their departure.
"I don't get it, Skipper," Dav remarked as I set the QE2 on a nearby table.
"About what?" I wondered.
"You were in the Star Service," he responded, looking directly at me. "You've had the nanite infusion. That makes you immune to this virus your people uncovered."
"What?!" L'trel exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Wouldn't have changed a thing, my love," I replied, taking his hand and giving it a kiss.
"Why not?" Dav wondered, glancing back and forth at us.
"Thanks to Tarnaa's rather ill-timed mating flight…"
Lifemate! she complained.
Chuckling as I sent her a reassuring mental caress, I turned to Dav, telling him, "I'm pregnant."
"By the sacred waters!" he hissed, staggering back a step or two. "Are you sure?"
I picked up the portable med scanner and tossed it to Dav. Like every other member of a first contactor team, he knew how to use one. Accompanied by the telltale beep the device made, Dav's eyes got positively enormous, his jaw dropping open.
It took him several long seconds before he finally managed to say, "What's that expression I've heard you dragonriders use? Oh, yeah." Looking straight at me, he exclaimed, "Sharding hell, Skipper!"
Approximately ten minutes later, Key called over the QE2, "Pern Control, Retrieval Team, come in!"
"Ch'har, what's your status?" I urgently asked after keying the mike. "Where are you?"
"At our first jump point, ch'hin!" he replied, excitement coloring his voice. "Approximately 60 light-years from Pern… and we made it in less than ten minutes!"
"What?!" Dav gasped, clearly disbelieving.
"Kara and Glinalth?" I nervously asked.
"Cheering like crazy!" Key laughed, the sound of Kara's hooting in the background clear to everyone. "By the Fire Falls of Firlea, ch'hin! Do you have any idea what this means?"
"Better than most," I chuckled back. "Has Glinalth tried to call back to us?"
After a short pause, Key replied, "Almost as soon as we emerged from between. Nothing yet?"
"No," I was forced to admit. "Let Glinalth know it's okay. We'll keep listening just in case there's a time delay."
"Will do," Key acknowledged.
"Give yourselves a break the same length as your time between," I suggested. "That way, Glinalth will have time to recover since she doesn't have an oxygen supply like you two."
"Roger that," Key responded. "We'll call before we make the next jump."
"Standing by, retrieval team," I acknowledged before setting the mike down.
"Humor me, Dana," L'trel muttered, frowning at me. "What exactly is a light-year?"
"Here you would probably call it a light-Turn," I responded, giving his arm a hug. "It's how far light can travel in a year."
"That's far, right?"
"The light from Rukbat travels at 186,300 miles per second…" "Per… per second?!"
I nodded. "So multiply the speed of light by 60 seconds in a minute then by 60 minutes in an hour then by 24 hours in a day then by 365.25 days in a Terran year and you get how far a light-year is."
"That's almost six trillion miles," Dav responded after doing the calculations on his wrist computer.
"Multiply that by the 60 light-years Key says they traveled…"
"Three hundred sixty trillion miles…" Dav reported.
"And they covered that distance in a little less than ten minutes!" I chimed in, rechecking my own wrist computer. "Ancestors!"
"Skipper?!" Dav was frantically rechecking his calculations.
"What is it?" L'trel wondered, glancing back and forth between me and Dav.
"The Wolfhound would've taken one and a half months at top speed to cover the distance Key, Kara, and Glinalth just did in less than ten minutes," I replied, grinning from ear-to-ear.
"That's over three million times the speed of light!" Dav stammered, clearly stunned. "By the sacred waters!"
"What?!" L'trel gasped, staggering back a step. "How is that possible?!"
"I'm no expert in spatial or temporal mechanics," I chuckled, shaking my head. "We really don't know what's happening when a dragon goes between, but to achieve that kind of speed, I'm betting they're folding space somehow, creating a shorter path for them to travel while between. Like an 'Einstein-Rosen Bridge'." Seeing the confusion on Dav's face, using a term he was familiar with, I added, "A wormhole."
"I get it!" L'trel gleefully exclaimed, absolutely bug-eyed with amazement. "I get it! Now that tutorial AIVAS showed me makes sense. If dragons can fold space like you suspect, then they would appear to move faster than they actually are, conserving energy while still covering vast distances!"
"That's about the size of it!" I laughed, planting a kiss on his beaming face.
"Well, I'm glad someone around here understands," Dav complained, companionably pounding me on the back. "That went right over my head!"
The retrieval team repeated the same jump and rest pattern three more times before finally reaching Pun Ch'lar. The multi-ton nanite dispenser… and the Matriarch… were there waiting for them.
Key was delighted to see her, giving Zucanno Om Lis Malu a warm, respectful hug when he dismounted Glinalth. Fortunately for the retrieval team, the Matriarch had thought ahead, mounting the multi-ton device to an anti-grav hover palette which would make moving it around at its final destination much easier.
Unfortunately, we never did receive any of the telepathic calls Glinalth made, but that was something that could wait for later scrutiny. Heading off the coronavirus invasion on Pern was the critical job now.
"We're on our way back, ch'hin," Key radioed over the QE2. "We'll see you soon!"
"Be careful!" I radioed back. "Safe journey!"
Four reverse course jumps and the task was completed, the staff at Robinton Cove cheering like mad as the nanite dispenser was moved to its new home in the pharmacy wing. Key wasted no time instructing the staff there how to program the device and how to dispense the nanite infusions. Within hours, they had everyone at the hospital, patients and staff, vaccinated.
A short time later, Glinalth returned to Landing bearing Key, Kara, and one other visitor.
"Ch'hin?" a voice called out at my door; one I instantly recognized in spite of all the Turns that had passed since I'd last heard it!
It was all I could do to keep my knees from shaking as I opened the door to find the Kendite Matriarch herself standing there.
"Zucanno Om Lis Malu!" I whispered, head lowered as I sank to a knee before her. "Ko naku ellero so ama nu batas!" (Mother of us all, I thought never to see you again!)
"Your bondmate?" she asked in unbroken English as L'trel came up behind me.
My throat was so choked up with emotion, all I could do was nod as I looked up at her.
"Your arm," the Matriarch commanded, holding up a nanite infusion hypospray.
"It's okay," I whispered, rising to stand beside L'trel. "It'll protect you against the coronavirus."
Mutely, L'trel nodded, extending his arm to the Matriarch. With a quick touch and a hiss, the injection was complete.
"I don't… don't understand," I stammered as I turned to face the Matriarch.
"Why I'm here?" she responded, chuckling as she looked at me. "Well, somebody had to come to properly recognize the new Pern ambassador, didn't they? Now, ch'hin, give me a hug!"
Laughing, sobbing, I did! Ancestors, I was thrilled beyond words to see her! And immensely relieved, too. With the nanite dispenser she had graciously given to us, Pern was safe from the coronavirus! Being Pern's ambassador to the Kendite people was the least I could do to repay her!