It had been so long since they'd seen sunlight that, when the shuttle door opened, Parry both shrank back from it and yearned toward it. Her skin seemed to open up and draw in the light like a sponge, greedily pulling it in. Her eyes watered, and she put up a hand to help shade them as she stepped down.
Elie was not pleased with their new arrangements, but it was the best that could be done on short notice.
Parry jumped down to grass, hauling in huge lungfuls of the fresh air that stirred gently over the hilltops. She was given only a moment to enjoy being outside again, Diane and Jondell jumping down behind her, before one of the Cats that had flown over with them urged her forward.
"We must get out of sight," he said.
The house was enormous, it's shadow quickly falling over them. Elie led the way as they crossed to a door and then inside.
"We must stay inside. In three days we will have our transport arranged for the Undervend Igrathi mine."
"Whose house?" Jondell asked as they stepped inside, looking around. Polished wood and marble, soft carpets, and vibrant tapestries told even them that whomever owned this house had some standing of prestige.
"It belongs to Neinm'ak Vuresh of the Kid'talak Fleet," Elie said, as the last of the few Cats who had accompanied them stepped in and closed the door. "His head of house is one of ours."
"But the Neinm'ak is not," Diane said.
"No, however he only uses this as a seasonal residence," Elie said. "And at the moment, he is conveniently more than thirty star systems away with the Kid'talak Fleet."
While she didn't go into further specifics, she didn't need to. The Kid'talak Fleet, like almost all of the Cat fleets, were busy whittling their way through human colonies on their way to take over Earth and destroy their species once and for all. As lovely as the house was, knowing that made it seem darker and colder than any other miserable hole they'd been living in since the First Fleet broke.
As the humans looked around, Elie wrinkled her nose slightly. "I do not like hiding here any more than you do, but it comes with one luxury long since needed. Fresh clothing should be arriving shortly. I suggest you three avail yourselves of the cleaning facilities."
Parry's skin suddenly crawled with desire for a shower. She could not remember the last one she'd had; since they'd been captured, she'd only been able to sponge off with a cold bucket of water now and again.
The 'shower' turned out to be nothing truly of the kind. The Kilrathi, like Earthborn feline species, did not sweat save at the pads of their hands and feet, and on their noses. They cooled by panting when needed, and saw no need for immersion under a steady stream of water on a daily basis. When they did need to clean up, they used damp cloths on only certain areas of their bodies.
Apparently when they were in need of a full body cleanup to get rid of dust or dirt on their fur, they used a small cement room that had several dozen nozzles at various heights that produced a diffuse steam. This, in combination with assorted brushes, served to clean them up quite thoroughly.
Parry stood in the mist as long as she was able, thanking whatever God existed that it was at least hot. Seeing her reflection in a nearby mirror she almost didn't recognize herself. She'd only had a few weeks to get her body and head straight after escaping from the Muhs O'Dann; being on the run now since the First Fleet broke seemed to have undone all the ground she'd gained in those short weeks.
She was gaunt, with a hollow-eyed look she'd seen on exhausted soldiers and pilots before. Her skin was pale with days hiding underground, and her normally short and trim hair was growing into a cap of cowlicks and whorls that was gummy with filth and sweat. She washed it as best she could, using the sink more than the 'shower', then put on the clothes that had been brought for her.
These were obviously cut for a Kilrathi, and a young one at that. The tunic shirt was oversized in the shoulders and hung past her hips; the trousers bagged at the back of her thighs but ended far too short of her ankles. They were clean, and didn't fall off, and right now that was the best she could expect.
There were no boots. Kilrathi rarely used footwear, even when they were on board a ship. Fortunately, her boots were holding together better than her clothing had, and she pulled them back on.
She combed her hair into as tamed a mess as she could get it, and threw her stinking and tattered old clothes into a corner, making a mental note to ask Elie about burning them. She'd just come back out into the main hall when she heard something of a commotion.
Following the noise into the common area she saw a trio of new Cats had arrived, and were speaking Kilrathi in low tones with Elie Kaan. Jon moved over to her from where he had been lingering nearby. Like Parry, he was markedly cleaner than he had been, and had even managed to shave. His pale cheeks gleamed still with moisture as he looked at her.
"Parry, it's Ray."
She looked at him without comprehension a moment. "Ray?"
"They just brought her in."
As he looked back at the Cats her confusion suddenly vanished into realization. The Cat who had been caught around the entrance to those tunnels, the reason they'd had to move here; they said he'd been carrying a human.
She headed toward Elie, ignoring Jon's weak grip on her forearm as he tried to halt her. "Where is she?"
The other Cats barely looked at her but Elie met her eyes, then inclined her head toward a nearby door. She may have said something, but Parry didn't stop to hear it.
The door opened into what looked like a study, or a library. It was full of shelves of fat-spined books, one of those overlarge fireplaces the Cats seemed so fond of, and several lounges. Near one of the lounges crouched another, unfamiliar Cat. Parry barely looked at her, staring instead at the woman on the lounge.
The first thing that went through her mind was relief. They'd made a mistake- this wasn't Ray. The woman was nearly skeletal, with ashen skin. Her head had been shaved- it looked like it had been done recently and without much care taken. Whoever had done it had nicked and scraped her skin several times, and she had a couple of finger shaped bruises on one side of her jaw.
She'd been covered with a blanket and a small metal stand was nearby, holding a bag of some sort of fluids that vanished through a tube that ran up under the blanket.
It was the way the blanket showed the shape of one leg, but abruptly fell flat on the other side, that finally made her jolt with recognition.
"Ray-?"
The Cat's hand moved up and blocked her gently as she started to move forward. "Would you mind starting a fire?" she asked, and Parry blinked at her mutely.
"A-"
"She needs warmth. It is why I brought her in here. The fire, please?"
Feeling disoriented, Parry looked around at the fireplace, then moved toward it. Her head was spinning with shock, with questions.
How was it possible that Ray was here? She should have been in the prison camp with the others. By the look of her, wherever she had been they hadn't bothered to feed her, or feed her much.
Finding the controls for the fireplace she managed to switch it on. Flames filled it with a cheery flare, and she could feel the heat warming her legs already as she turned and went back to the lounge. This time the Cat didn't stop her as she knelt down beside her.
"Ray?" She whispered, almost as if she were afraid to wake her up. Gently, she touched the bare shoulder above the blankets, feeling nothing but hard bone under the skin. "Ray?"
"She's unconscious. She's been so since she was found."
"What did…what did they do to her?" Parry asked. She'd almost said 'what did you do to her' but forced herself to understand that whatever had happened to her wingman, this Cat was not responsible.
"I'm not entirely sure," the Cat replied. "She's been without food for quite some time. She's dehydrated but there are signs she was given IV hydration fairly recently. There are some superficial wounds- scrapes, cuts, sores- but no severe injuries of any kind. She has a healing bump on her head but it wouldn't have been hard enough to render her unconscious. I'd guess her biggest problem right now is just exhaustion and shock."
"These?" Parry looked at the hanging bag.
"What you'd expect. Hydration, electrolytes, proteins. Some antibiotics, what few we know are safe for humans."
Parry was silent for a moment, her hand still gently on Ray's shoulder, before she said, "The man that was with her- they said he was some kind of spy?"
"Nedris. Karfa Ikkled," she said with a nod. "From what I was told he dropped dead the moment he was approached."
"Why? What happened?"
"That's the real question, isn't it?" the Cat said with a faintly amused snuff. "There were no wounds, no signs of trauma. I did a full autopsy on him; there was no reason I could find for his death."
"Why would one of these Nedris even have Ray?" Parry asked. Her tone was even but as she really looked at the Cat for the first time since coming in, her eyes were glittering and hard.
"Elie just filled us in. She got a report from one of her contacts in Intelligence," Diane said, as she and Jondell entered the study. The Cat got to her feet and moved aside, as the other two humans came over to Parry's side. "From what they've been able to find, this Nedris took her from the same prison camp where the rest of our people are being held, several days ago. He brought her to the Capital and- "
Diane looked at Jondell a moment, her lips twisting in distaste. Parry watched her, and when she didn't immediately continue, spoke.
"What? He took her to the Capital and what?"
"And struck a deal with Surc and Sela," Jon started. "It's not important what kind- "
"It is," Diane said. "Parry, since the Emperor and his sister were convinced that we were dead, they struck a deal with the Nedris. They would allow him to dissect Ray so long as…so long as she was alive and conscious throughout the procedure. A fitting execution for an Ape that, in their minds, would at least make up a little for being robbed of the pleasure of killing us."
Parry felt horror wash over her. She turned her head and looked at the Cat, whom she assumed was the doctor that Elie had mentioned. The Cat shook her head.
"The procedure was not started. I believe they shaved her head in anticipation of a full craniotomy, however- "
Parry surged up to her feet and almost instantly felt Diane grab her before she could reach the Cat.
"Parry!"
"You're fucking barbarians!" Parry snarled, trying to throw the other woman off. The doctor stepped back a few paces in surprise as Jondell helped grab hold of her. "What kind of motherfucking insane unfeeling- "
"The doctor is not the one to blame here," Elie said as she walked in. Parry fixed on her instead.
"This is your fault! If you hadn't- "
"Hadn't saved your lives?" Elie asked coolly. "If you'd rather be dead, Angel, we can arrange that."
"Parry, stand down," Diane ordered, still gripping her arms. Parry tried to throw them off again and Diane tightened her grip. "Stand down! This helps no one!"
"Why? Can you at least tell me that?" Parry asked, still focused on Elie.
"Why did we save you?" Elie asked.
"Why would the bastards want to dissect Ray? This war has gone on decades, are you seriously telling me that human biology and physiology is still such a fucking mystery- "
"Oh. No," Elie said. Despite Parry's fury the white bitch was as insanely calm and collected as always. It made Parry hate her. "We know more than enough about Ape physiology and biology."
"Then why? Why her?"
"According to our sources in Intel, it was because she, as well, is a Nedris." Elie said. Confused shock came over all three humans, and Parry stopped trying to pull away from her two companions.
"That's preposterous," Diane said before Parry could even speak. "Rayna Caruso is no spy, she's a fighter pilot."
"I'm aware," Elie said. "However Ikkled and Varnak seemed to believe that she was possessed of the same abilities as Nedris are rumored to possess."
"It's insanity," Jon said.
"This entire war is insanity," Elie told him. "It is what I have found. Ikkled wanted to dissect her- her brain, specifically- as they have not had an opportunity to dissect an Ape Nedris before. The only reason she now lives is because he was able to convince the Emperor and his sister that she should suffer through the procedure as much as was felinely possible- sorry, humanly possible."
Parry covered her face with her hands, trying to get her disgust, horror, fury, and disbelief under control. After a moment she dropped them.
"So how did she get here?" she asked.
"I believe you know that already-" Elie said, and Parry's expression tightened with anger again.
"I'm not fucking stupid," she said. "But this Karfa took her from the prison and convinced the Emperor that there was merit in…in hurting her."
She pointed at Ray, who had not moved save breathing since she had been laid down. Parry grit her teeth, but didn't look away from Elie. "They shaved her head. They were going to do exactly what they told Surc they intended to do. So how the fuck does she get from that, to this? This fucking Karfa have a change of fucking heart?"
"She has an excellent point," Jon said.
Elie looked down at Ray for the first time with a puzzled expression, and shrugged slightly. "Truth be told I have no idea. We're working on that. All I can tell you is that Dr. Varnak, who was Karfa's compatriot and who intended to assist in the procedure, was found dead in their lab. He'd been injected with the very paralytic they intended to use on the A…on Ray. Someone, presumably Karfa, then stabbed him through the eye with one of the instruments they'd intended to use on her. Why the Nedris did that, why he brought her to the tunnel entrance, and why he dropped dead as soon as he was discovered, is still a mystery."
The doctor spoke for the first time since Parry had threatened her. "There is an explanation."
All heads turned toward her, and Elie gestured for her to go on.
"Of course, it only makes sense if you believe that this poor creature truly is a human Nedris, and that they are in fact possessed of the gifts to which they are rumored."
"Beliefs I don't think anyone here is going to entertain," Elie said with a snuff of derision. The doctor nodded.
"Nor do I, to be honest, but it is the only logical explanation."
"You still haven't said what that explanation is," Diane said hotly.
"It is simply that this human was able to hypnotize or entrance Ikkled somehow. She got him to attack his companion, got him to carry her as she was in no physical shape to stand or walk on her own, somehow managed to glean where the tunnel entrances were- "
"And then killed him as soon as rescue appeared?" Parry asked, her voice sounding more cynical and bitter than even she'd intended. The doctor only shrugged lightly.
"Yes."
"I can't- I can't fucking deal with this," Parry said, and knelt back down at Ray's side, taking her hand.
"I will continue to look into this," Elie told Diane and Jondell. "In the mean time this complicates things. She's in poor condition, and we still need to get you moved off world. We need to talk options- "
"So long as you are in clear understanding that those options include getting Ray evacuated and hidden with us," Diane told her firmly. "We are not leaving her behind, whatever her condition."
"I thought you might say that," Elie said with a sigh. "Very well. There is work I need to do then, and quickly, if we are going to be able to do that. For now, I will leave you be. Rest. Food will be brought soon."
Parry barely heard the exchange, barely heard Elie and the doctor stepping out of the room. Her eyes were fixed to Ray's thin face.
What happened, Ray? she thought, her head still pounding with anger. I don't believe it for one second. I don't believe that you're a spy, that the Confed would hide such terrible things. So what happened Ray?
What happened?
