Dylan thought he had never found the sight of the Andromeda a sweeter one.
Though their flight had taken only a short time, Ian, the son of Galil, was
clearly terrified, and his sobs were wrenching to hear. Galil seemed to be
crying along with him, and Dylan spared as many minutes as he could trying
to comfort them while flying the unfamiliar shuttle.
After a few tries, Dylan managed to figure out how to operate the communications equipment. His hail to the Andromeda was met with obvious relief.
"Dylan! You made it; thank the Divine!"
"I didn't know you believed in the Divine, Harper," Dylan said.
"All those years of Rev must've rubbed off on me."
"Care to open a hangar door for this bucket of bolts?"
"You got it, Boss man. Hangar Door Three opening now. And Dylan? Good to have you back."
"I echo that sentiment," came the measured voice of his ship. Dylan grinned a little at the relief underlying those tones; he, too, was glad to be back in command.
After he landed the little shuttle, he turned to Galil, who had just succeeded in calming her son, with a warm smile. "So, I got an exciting tour of your home; are you two ready for one of mine?"
Galil shuddered a little as she said in a husky voice, "Saskill was never really my home, but I am eager to see yours." Turning to her son, she said, "Ian, we've been too busy to introduce you two before, but I want you to meet Captain Hunt, who has helped us escape from the Szezhume."
Ian's smile was wavery but bright. "Hiya, Captain!" The beginnings of hero worship already shone in his eyes.
"Dylan," said the captain. "Call me Dylan." With a warm smile, he invited both of them onto the Andromeda.
Beka opened bleary eyes as soon as the ship stopped moving. Now her head really hurt, and she'd collected an impressive array of additional bruises during the ship's tumbles, as well. Looking at the dimming viewscreen now over her head, she was just able to make out the lapping of waves against the hull of the ship. Uh-oh, she thought. Better get out of here pronto. But where's Tyr?
Urgency shrilling through her, Beka groped her way to hands and knees and began to quickly look for her shipmate. She found him crumpled on the floor at the other end of the room, the body of an Ogami right beside him. With a quick flood of fear at the strange bonelessness of his position, she crawled over to him. Sticky blood was flowing from a gash on his forehead, mixing with his braids, and several other gashes and cuts showed through rips in his clothing. What a time for him to forgo his hated chain mail, she thought ruefully, but the amusement passed quickly. They had to get out of there.
"Tyr," she said softly, reaching over to shake him. "Tyr, wake up. The ship is sinking, and we've got to get out." For a moment longer she tried to move him, then she stopped to think. Abruptly, Beka changed gears and decided that the best thing to do was to try to get a hatch open before water pressure made that impossible, then come back and rouse Tyr.
Using the walls for support, Beka rose unsteadily to her feet and lurched off the bridge. The nearest hatch she could recall seeing during their explorations was just off the main hall; ignoring the bodies still lying in the corridor she made her way as quickly as possible to the exit.
Operating the controls should have been simple, but when she pushed for door open instead of the flood of light she was expecting the door gave a tortured groan and water began gushing in through the break in the seal. Damn, she thought. This one must already be under water. For a moment, she tried to push the door open manually, but it was just as she had feared: the pressure of the water on the hull made it impossible to get the door open.
With a dismayed look at that hatch, Beka ran off to find another as quickly as possible. As the ship sank, one end had begun rising, and Beka consciously ran uphill to try to find an access hatch that was not already underwater. With a rising sense of panic Beka noticed the water flowing down the corridor as she dashed uphill; obviously the hatch she'd tried to open was not the only source of the leak.
Beka tried corridor after corridor until she was finally successful at locating another hatch. This one, to her relief, opened immediately, and she took a brief second to stick her head out and look at their surroundings.
What she saw reassured her a little; the shore was fairly close; if she could just rouse Tyr they could probably swim for it, provided there were no strange predators in the coppery waters around them. Beka couldn't prevent a shudder as she thought of the elements she was about to face. Planets, she thought with loathing. I hate planets - and we're about to be stuck on one that I know nothing about. Yeecch.
Racing back the to bridge took precious minutes, and Beka was momentarily terrified that the water level might already have closed over Tyr's unconscious head. The water hadn't covered his face, but it was a close thing. Completely disregarding the temperature of the fluid, Beka dropped to her knees beside Tyr and raised his head in her arms, those extravagant locks spilling over her chest and floating on the water surrounding them.
"Tyr." This time her voice was louder and more urgent. "C'mon, guy, wake up. Your survival instincts should be kicking in about now!" Still no response, so she clasped his head to her chest with one arm and began lightly slapping his cheeks with the other hand. "Come ON Tyr, you have to wake up! You're too heavy for me to carry!"
Finally, finally she seemed to be getting through. Tyr's eyelashes fluttered, and then he opened dazed eyes. At first he seemed very confused; his lashes fluttered closed again and he turned his face into her chest, nuzzling into her softness. For just a moment, despite herself, Beka's arms tightened around Tyr's head, cradling him to her. Then urgency reasserted itself, and she moved quickly to awaken him.
Shaking him slightly, Beka said, "Tyr, we have to escape, NOW! The ship is going down!" Tyr's eyes blinked open again, and he finally seemed to become aware of their peril. The water level was perceptibly rising now, and waves sloshed over all of his prone body, up to Beka's waist. Tyr pulled away from Beka and sat up, blinking rapidly.
"Did you get a door open?" He hoped his voice did not reveal his immediate panic.
"Yeah, it's this way." Beka got immediately to her feet, missing Tyr's involuntary expression of relief and gratitude. Having drowned once, Tyr was hoping never to repeat that experience. He struggled to arise and follow her, his head still swimming from the blow that had knocked him out. A strong, slim hand fastened over his wrist and pulled him to his feet.
"This way," she repeated, and she sloshed off down the corridor still pulling him by that clasp on the wrist.
"Can we salvage anything?"
"I don't think we have time." As if to underline her remark, the ship suddenly lurched, and all the internal lights went out. Beka gasped, and Tyr felt his heart sink, but they soon found that enough light from the hatch she had opened penetrated the corridor so they could still see. With unwavering determination, Beka ploughed on through the ever-deepening waters, pulling the groggy Nietzschean behind her.
Dylan brought Galil and Ian straight to the Com deck. For him, it was another homecoming, another safe return against the prevailing odds. Despite his concerns about Beka and Tyr, Dylan was conscious of a deep sense of contentment. He smiled warmly at Rommie as he took his accustomed place near the pilot's chair; Harper and Trance, also on the Deck, looked relieved to see him and very interested in his guests. He was pleased to find them all there so he could make his introductions all at once.
"Rommie, Harper, Trance, I'd like you to meet the woman who helped me escape, Galil Lundergan, and her son Ian." Galil smiled a little shyly at the threesome, as Ian, briefly overwhelmed at the attention, buried his face in his mother's body.
"Hello," said Trance gravely.
"Heya, pretty lady!" Dylan rolled his eyes as Harper greeted Galil predictably.
"Welcome," said Rommie. "Dylan, shall I find them some quarters?"
"Yes, Rommie, please do. Then, Galil, I'm hoping you'll meet me so we can start to figure out how to track down Beka and Tyr. I don't like the thought of them out there alone somewhere."
"Sure, Dylan, so long as Rommie?" she checked with the AI to ensure that she'd gotten that right, and in response to Rommie's brief nod, repeated, "Rommie will show me how to find you. This ship is a beauty, but she sure is large!"
"Why thank you," Rommie replied, drawing a puzzled look from Galil.
"Rommie is an AI, the avatar for this ship," Dylan clarified.
Galil's eyes widened, and she was clearly fascinated by that proposition. "Wow! What genius made you?"
Dylan rolled his eyes again as he heard this disingenuous question; even Trance smiled a little as they waited for his response.
"Genius? Genius! Why, thank you! It's nice to finally get the recognition I've always deserved. Seamus Zelazny Harper, certified genius here, at your service - and I do mean service." Galil's smile turned indulgent as she heard him make that little speech; it was clear to Dylan she she'd taken Harper's measure very quickly and accurately.
"Always glad to give credit where credit is due," she responded lightly. "Rommie - shall we?"
The avatar guided the woman and her small son off the Com deck, leaving Harper open-mouthed on the way to his next sally.
Tyr seemed to revive slightly as they reached the open hatch. With a deepening frown, he looked around, clearly gauging the time left before the ship actually sank. It wasn't much, Beka was certain as she watched the strange, coppery water creep higher over the hull. All the same, she wasn't looking forward to actually swimming in the stuff.
"Beka, is there nothing we can salvage?" Tyr repeated.
Beka frowned for a moment, thinking. "I guess I haven't looked around enough to know. What'd you have in mind?"
"Well, I have a blaster, and my knives. Do you have a weapon?" Beka shook her head. "How about any survival gear?" Again, the headshake. Beka watched with concern as Tyr put the back of one hand to his forehead, obviously fighting off dizziness.
"How about I go salvage real fast, and you wait here to give a yell when I need to be back." Beka thought she saw a flash of relief on that normally impassive countenance.
"Fine. Look for blankets, food, medical supplies and more weapons."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm looking!" Beka threw the last words over her shoulder as she moved as quickly as possible back down the passage. She had not had the pleasure of drowning lately, she reflected, but even so it was strange and scary to hear the water pouring into the ship. Particularly in the near-darkness.
Peering quickly into every door she encountered, Beka was able to make out enough in the rooms near the open hatch to scrounge up a couple of blankets and a basic first aid kit. The mess hall eluded her, but she found a stash of nutri-bars and snacks in one room, which she quickly rolled into the blankets.
"Beka!" Tyr's shout brought her about, and she quickly began to make her way back toward the hatch. "Hurry!"
"Keep your shirt on, Tyr, I'm almost there!" Her voice was breathless, she noted with a frown, but it was enough to quiet him down. He came a few steps away from the hatch as he heard her sloshing nearer; grabbing the rough bundle she'd made out of the blankets, he turned back and climbed the last few steps to the opening.
"Time to go. Can you swim?"
"Umm, after a fashion," she confessed.
"I'll keep an eye on you, but don't grab at me if you get into trouble. I can only swim for us both if you don't panic."
Beka met his eyes gravely for a moment, and nodded. She was not looking forward to this. Without another word, Tyr turned to the roiling copper waters below them and jumped from the hatch. Heart in her mouth, Beka moved to follow him.
Dylan blew out a breath in frustration. "So, you have basically no idea where Beka and Tyr might be?"
His tone was not particularly cordial, and Galil stiffened a bit before she answered. "I'm sorry, Dylan, but no. The Szezhume were not overly helpful in sharing any of their plans that did not involve direct orders."
Dylan looked at her very directly. "And there's no other help you can give us?"
It was Galil's turn to sigh, which she did while rubbing at the frown in her forehead. "Well. They were being taken just as the Szezhume decided to work on me. If the Andromeda was close enough to Saskill by then, perhaps your resident genius could deduce which ship took them and extrapolate its course?"
"That's a good idea." Dylan looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, "Andromeda?"
Galil jumped a little as the ship's hologram jumped into being. "Yes, Dylan?"
"Can you and Harper go over your memory banks to identify any ship that left Saskill about an hour before you rescued us? And if you find one, can you try to track it?"
"Right away." The hologram flickered out, and Dylan smiled a little at Galil's still-wide eyes. "Andromeda can appear in several forms."
"So I see, Dylan," she said, dryly.
Dylan was silent for another moment, then he said, "You know, I'm still lookin' for that meal I haven't had. Would you care to join me?"
"Let me get Ian, and we'd love to," Galil responded. At his nod, she rose gracefully and made her way back to her new quarters to fetch her son.
The drop was longer than it looked from the sinking spaceship, and the water itself significantly chillier than it had seemed within the ship. As Beka hit the surface, the breath was driven from her lungs, and it took long enough for her to reach the surface that she began to worry that she would run out of air before she ran out of water to move through. Finally, she broke through to the surface, gasping and shaking the water from her hair. She looked around immediately, and was reassured to see Tyr's dark head nearby, with one hand holding the bundle of supplies unsteadily atop it.
"OK?" he asked briefly. When she nodded, he turned and struck off for shore, leaving her to marvel anew at the marvelous athleticism of the man. Beka had rather understated her swimming ability; she was pleased to find that her crawl was more than adequate to keep apace his measured movements toward shore.
After about ten minute's swimming, they reached the rocky shore. The lake was smooth and placid, which was a fortunate thing as the rocks that lined its shore were jagged and treacherous. Beka collected another couple of scrapes to add to her general collection as she made her way out of the lake. The taste of the water, which she had unavoidably swallowed a few times, was unpleasantly sharp, and her stomach seemed less than happy to receive it even though she was actually quite thirsty.
Beka frowned at the new worry - where would they find potable water if the lake was not? - but then she turned her attention to making it safely onto the shore. This time, when Tyr stretched out a strong hand to help her, she took it gratefully, nearly exhausted from the day's escapades.
Tyr, too, seemed a little worn. Limping a bit, he set down their bundle on a boulder and, with a brief attempt at a smile in her direction, began to scope out their surroundings, blaster drawn and at the ready. Beka sank down on a nearby rock and watched him, content, for the moment, to let him take the lead.
Tyr disappeared several times into the underbrush that lined the lake's edge, but he soon reappeared and systematically made his way along the shoreline back to her. Beka supposed, idly, that she needed to get moving; the air was cool enough that she was beginning to get chilly. Exhaustion warred with cold, however, and she just wasn't sure she could muster the energy to arise. Dully, she watched Tyr come nearer.
Tyr's worry coalesced as he saw her blank countenance. Beka had pushed herself hard today, hard enough that she'd have been tired even if she had been whole and healthy. With the residue of the drug and surgery still stalking her, he was amazed that she was still upright. Clearly, he was going to have to find some shelter for them right away.
Tyr cast a keen look up at the sky. This planet appeared to be influenced by two suns; its brightest was just setting but its second, smaller sun, bluer in color, was still going strong. No way to know the cycles of the suns, or the temperature swings that they might invoke, although the greenery looked robust enough that Tyr doubted they would face temperature extremes.
Still, as the primary sun set the air was growing perceptibly colder, and he could see Beka, still in wet clothes, begin to shiver.
His brief exploration had revealed a rocky ledge with a bit of an overhang a few paces into the greenery. Beyond the band of shrubs and grasses lining the lakeshore, tall trees grew, their leaves rustling in the evening breeze. Tyr decided to rely on the overhang for shelter for now, and to try to gather wood to make a fire.
Gently, he said, "Beka?" She looked at him, mute, and he gave her another smile. "C'mon, let's head to our luxurious quarters."
With a perceptible effort, she roused herself. "Hot and cold running water, I trust?"
"Of course," he answered, offering her a hand to rise. Beka rose to her feet, leaning heavily, for a moment, on his strength. Then, taking a deep breath, she let him go, standing by sheer effort of will, he thought. He had never admired her more.
Leading the way through the greenery, Tyr brought Beka and their bundle of supplies to the slight overhang that he had seen earlier. Tyr briefly fired his blaster, set on low, at the back wall and floor of the small cave to ensure that no other beings were using the same shelter; then, he turned to his shivering shipmate.
"I am going to find wood for a fire. You should strip off those wet clothes and wrap in a blanket; I think I kept the inner ones pretty dry. Here's the blaster; I'll be back as soon as I can."
"But, you should take the blaster. What if you run into something nasty out there?" Even as out of it as she was, Beka's voice was sharp with concern.
Tyr smiled briefly at her. "I'll be fine. I've got the knives, and my weapons are built in." He snapped out his bone spurs as a demonstration, then turned and made his way swiftly toward the forest.
Rommie's brows twitched together as she heard Dylan laugh merrily. What was going on in the kitchen? It was a place she rarely went, as she had no need for food, but curiosity drew her through the door.
The sight that met her eyes was not one she had ever before seen. Dylan was on the floor of the combined mess and lounge with the dark-haired boy, Ian. Ian was pretending to shoot at Dylan using his finger and thumb as a blaster, and Dylan was shuddering and he took the make-believe hits. Rolling around in a pretend death agony, Dylan ambushed the little boy, sweeping his knees out from under him and catching him on the way down. Peels of giggles filled the air as Dylan tickled the boy in a ritual as old as mankind.
Galil was leaning off to the side, watching the byplay with amusement, wonder and worry warring in her eyes. Rommie crossed over to join her, carefully avoiding the fight pattern of the two males. For a moment, both were silent as they watched the wrestling match. Eventually, Galil spoke. "Dylan's wonderful with children!"
Rommie nodded. "I must confess to being a little surprised. I have never seen him play like this." Indeed, as Dylan's rich laugh filled the room again, it was not clear to either woman who was enjoying the contest of skills more.
Galil turned to smile warmly at Rommie. "Dylan was sure you were waiting for us, you know? He was absolutely convinced you were here."
Rommie smiled faintly. "Well, I always make it a policy to locate him as soon as I can if I've misplaced him."
Galil laughed a little, her eyes on the tall, strong figure playing with her son. "I can see why."
For a moment, Rommie closed her eyes, not reacting, then she turned suddenly to Dylan. "Dylan, Harper has some news for you. He would like you to come to the Com deck."
Startled out of play mode, Dylan froze for a moment on the floor mid-growl, then he smiled a little sheepishly and rose to his feet. "Sorry, partner," he said to Ian, kneeling down briefly to get back to the boy's level. "I have to go now. Duty calls."
The little boy nodded back at Dylan, very gravely. Dylan reached out and ruffled the boy's dark hair, smiled at Galil, then turned and walked with Rommie to the bridge.
When Tyr got back to the overhang, he was met by the sight of Beka's clothing draped neatly over nearby bushes to dry. Arms loaded with wood and kindling, Tyr maneuvered around the bushes until he got a clear view of the small cave's interior. Beka was sprawled within, lying on one of their blankets while wrapped in another, and she seemed to be asleep. A smile touched his mouth as he noted that her slackened hand still was folded around the blaster.
Moving as quietly as possible, Tyr put down the wood and cleared a place for a fire near where Beka was lying. As he carefully layered dry grasses, small twigs and logs until he had the makings of a good blaze, he took a moment to reflect thankfully on his extensive skills at roughing it. Carefully removing the blaster from Beka's limp fingers, he fired a brief shot at the tinder on low. As he'd hoped, the tinder caught, and he soon had a crackling blaze going.
Tyr was very tired, and also hungry. Beka had unpacked their few belongings neatly, and Tyr fell gratefully upon a couple of the nutribars, opening them carefully to preserve their wrappers. One of the things they were most lacking, Tyr thought, was containers for carrying water or food, and he was loathe to dispose of anything that might prove useful.
Tyr's own clothes had mostly dried on him by now, so after he had eaten, he stoked the fire and, taking the third blanket, rolled himself in it and lay down next to Beka. He set the blaster close at hand and settled himself down for some much-needed rest.
His thoughts, before he allowed sleep to claim him, were not pleasant. He had fought his way onto the bridge of the alien ship and not had a chance to get even a hint about what system they had entered. He knew nothing about the planet they were stranded on, and they had very few resources. Also, if Beka were to become ill from the day's events, he had little with which to treat her. All in all, though they might have been worse off, the situation was unfavorable.
And had Dylan survived? Had he somehow made it back to the Andromeda? If so, how would Dylan ever find them, Tyr wondered. Certainly, if he had made it back to the Andromeda, he would look, particularly, he reflected objectively, for Beka. But space was large, and a single planet hard to distinguish. Maybe Trance's odd skills would help the Andromeda locate them.
Tyr gave a brief sigh, then gave himself over to sleep. There were no easy answers, and he needed the rest.
"What's up Harper?" Dylan entered the Com deck at a brisk walk.
"Hiya, Boss. Well, we think we've found the ship that likely had Beka and Tyr on it; this ship," he gestured to the viewscreen, "received a shuttle from the surface and then took off at about the right time. Problem is, we're so late it'll be real tough to track them through Slipstream. I can't think of anything else to try though."
Dylan pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "OK, Harper, let's go for it. See if you can track them down."
Harper, from the pilot's seat, nodded. "Streaming in 5, 4, 3." The Slipstream station moved to embrace him as the Andromeda made the transition into the alternative space.
Trance was surprised to hear the sound of crying emanating from the kitchen. Brows drawn together, she walked swiftly into the room, wondering absently how long they would be stuck in Slipstream. She had always hated the feel of this particular mode of transportation, and changing places with her younger self had not lessened her distaste.
Within the room, Ian was huddled on the floor in his mother's arms, crying as though his heart would break. Galil, trying to comfort him, was obviously struggling for self-control herself. Trance walked closer to the pair and kneeled down where the boy could see her if he choked back his sobs enough to look up.
"Hiya," she said softly. Galil's eyes flicked to her, then returned to her son. Trance waited a moment, then tried again. "You seem sad. What's the matter?"
After a moment, Galil answered in a slightly unsteady voice. "We're not too sure what's going on. The ship lurched and now everything feels very strange. It's kind of scary for someone who's never been in space before."
Trance's eyes widened as she took that in. "You mean you've never been in space before?"
"Well, I have, many years ago. But Ian never has. Why did the ship lurch?"
"We went into the sliptream, that's why."
"Oh, is that what's going on?" Relief dawned in Galil's eyes. "It's been so long I'd forgotten what it feels like." Galil turned back to her son. "Did you hear Trance, Ian? She said that we're in the Slipstream. Everything is going to be all right."
The boy sobbed once more, then gulped, wiping his face on his mother's shirt. Looking up at Trance, he said in a quavery voice, "What's Slipstream?"
"Well, Slipstream is a way to travel extra long distances in space very quickly. It's kind of a different dimension in space, you know? And not every ship can travel on the Slipstream, but Andromeda is very good at it." Trance's voice was warm and reassuring, and after another sniff, the boy calmed. "How old is he, Galil?"
Always happy to discuss her son, Galil answered, "He's nearly five."
"Wow, so old," Trance responded. "Listen, guys, would you like to visit hydroponics, where I grow the plants for this ship? Would you enjoy seeing that?"
Ian, wiping tear-stained eyes, was heard to say that he would, so he left with Trance and his mother.
Tyr awoke some eight hours later, according to his chrono. As was typical for him, he was instantly awake, but he was unsure of what had roused him. Brows drawn together, he extended his senses, straining to see, in the dim light, past the remains of their fire.
It had grown perceptibly colder. Beka, he was slightly amused to note, was cuddled up against him for warmth; after a moment longer of careful listening, he shifted a little, settling her against him more comfortably and turning on his back. His hand brushed her forehead, and he frowned, assessing the heat radiating from her. This was not an ordinary nighttime warmth; she was brewing a fever of some magnitude.
Tyr swore under his breath, abruptly concerned. This was exactly what he had been worried about. He had very little means for helping her through this; fervently, he hoped that her immune system was up to fighting off whatever infection was stalking her. The frown on his brow took up extended residence as he tightened his arm around her.
He had almost fallen back to sleep when her violent trembling began again.
*POSTED ON SS TO HERE*
Slipstreaming was in imprecise science; its efficiency depended partly upon the skill of the commanding pilot, partly on the frequency with which a route was traveled, and partly upon blind luck. The same trip could take one pilot an hour, and a second, six or seven. Under Harper's competent control, the Andromeda made several jumps, following what he deduced and imagined the earlier ship's trail to be. Even given his technical gifts, however, the trip extended for several hours. Dylan, pacing the Com deck impatiently, wordlessly urged him to hurry as they made the jumps to take them to the other ship. Hopefully, they would not be too late.
"Thirsty," Beka's voice was croaky and dry, and Tyr moved quickly from the log he had appropriated for a seat to help her sit up and give her a sip out of the nutribar wrappers that he'd filled with water from the lake. Beka had been asleep or unconscious for several hours since her last bout of tremors, and Tyr was hoping her body was fighting off whatever infection she had developed.
Beka leaned against the hard strength of Tyr's arm and chest as she fumbled to drink from the collapsible container. Tyr watched as she managed to take several swallows, grimacing against the metallic taste. But the water agreed even less with her system this time, and she barely had time to gasp out, "Sick!" before she bowed over to the side, retching out the few swallows she had just managed to consume.
Brow creased, Tyr held her while her body spasmed. When she relaxed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, he gently laid her down again on her nest of blankets.
"Sorry, Tyr, think that water does not work for me." Beka's voice was very weak.
"So I deduced. Beka, I have got to find you something to drink. Here's the blaster. Stay awake if you can, and I'll be back. There's got to be a source of potable water somewhere; I'll find it if I can."
"Thanks." This time, Beka didn't even protest. With a brief nod, Tyr turned and ran into the woods, setting a steady pace that he could maintain for many minutes.
When the Andromeda materialized out of Slipstream for the fifth time, Dylan had had enough. "Harper, where are we? And where is it that you think we're headed?"
Harper, looking slightly strained from the demands of Slipstreaming, took a swig of Sparky Cola before he answered. "We're followin' a signature trail from one of those cruisers that were in orbit around Saskill. We--."
Andromeda flickered to life on the viewscreens, interrupting. "Dylan, sensors indicate approaching ships, vectoring into combat format."
"Identification?"
"They appear to be Ogami."
"Damn. Harper, evasive action. Rommie, can you fire a warning shot, give 'em something to think about while we go into Slipstream?"
"Aye, sir, missile away." As always, Rommie's voice sounded cool and collected.
Steam rising from the water in the small clearing that he eventually came across made Tyr frown. Another dead end. This was the third water source he'd found, and none had had water pure enough that Beka could drink it. Grimacing at the heat, Tyr knelt down, cupped his hands and took a drink.
Surprisingly, the water, though unpleasantly warm, tasted far purer than the other samples he had tried. With a huff of pleased surprise, Tyr fumbled at his waist for the makeshift water pouches he had fashioned from the nutribar wrappers he'd saved.
Tyr's skin was sheened with sweat, his massive chest rising and falling rapidly as he bent over the stream. He'd stripped off his shirt to form a makeshift carrying pouch, and in addition to the water packets he was carrying some fruits he had gathered along the way. Despite his success at foraging, the frown on his brow did not waver as he hastily filled the packets and sprinted from the clearing. He had to get back to Beka.
The rustling in the underbrush sounded loud in the day's silence, but it did not rouse Beka. Slowly three figures crept closer to her prone body, muttering in a strange, highly-pitched tone as they began to examine her. Rough grey hands reached out and touched her skin, shifting through her hair as if searching for treasure. The strange, gibbering sounds increased in volume as the creatures grew more bold, and one darted off into the bushes to summon three of its more timid fellows.
After a thorough exam, the creatures apparently concluded that the lifeless figure was somehow valuable for, grasping hold of sides of the blanket on which Beka lay, the creatures hefted her lying figure and, with a great deal of additional chatter, began to move off together into the forest. Soon, all was still and silent in the primitive campsite.
"Woo-hoooo!" Harper's exuberant exclamation, though slightly muffled by the embrace of the pilot's chair, came through loudly as the Andromeda leapt into Slipstream. "We sure held those bastards off!"
Dylan's expression lightened at Harper's exuberance, but his face remained grave. "Where to next, Mr. Harper, and when will we finish this?"
"Ahh, Boss, I can't tell you for sure, but I'm hopin' we're comin' to the end. We've almost reached a trader system, and that may be where our Saskillion friends took Beka and Tyr. Here's hoping, anyway."
"Here's hoping," Dylan agreed heavily.
Trance stood beside Galil, watching Ian discover the joys of the gym adjacent to hydroponics. With a whoop, the boy ran from one end of the gym to the other, kicking Dylan's beloved basketball and trying to beat it across the floor. Trance's expression flickered as she felt the faint shudder of the ship firing a missile, then Slipstream took them again. Ian whimpered for just a moment, then turned his attention back to his ball while his mother smile bravely at him, all the while holding tight to Trance's hand.
Tyr stood leaning over, bracing his hands on his thighs as his chest heaved. His eyes, dark with dismay, drank in the empty campsite again and again, as if he doubted the evidence of his senses the first several times.
Where could she have gone? And, he noted, without the clothing still draped over the nearby bushes?
Still breathing heavily, Tyr took several steps nearer the remains of the fire, keen gaze raking the ground where he'd left his crewmate. The ground was carpeted with needles from the nearby trees - he grimaced to think how carefully he'd piled those there, to help her rest easier - but there were patches of dirt among the debris. His careful examination revealed.pawprints of some sort? Tyr squatted to look closer, his frown growing heavier as he measured the span of the unusual tracks, and the claw imprints at the end of each toe pad.
There were no traces of Beka's footprints, so Tyr was forced to conclude, with a stab of fear for her, that whoever or whatever had left the large tracks had carried her off. In a quick swipe he gathered her clothing together from the bush and stuffed it into the bundle at his waist. With no further preparation, he bent his gaze back to the forest floor and began racing along the trail left by Beka's abductors.
The Andromeda shuddered slightly as it left the Slipstream behind. Ahead, her viewscreens showed a placid star system, with its little inter-stellar traffic concentrated in orbit around one slight planet.
"Rommie, any of those ships the one we're tracing?" Dylan's voice was clipped.
Rommie closed her eyes for a moment, then met his gaze with concern. "None of those ships match the rad signature that we've been following."
"What? Rommie, scan the whole system, will ya?" Harper's voice was full of protest.
"I already have, Harper. That ship is not in this system."
Harper frowned for a moment, the anxiety he was feeling for Beka and - he admitted privately, for the big Uber as well - drawing his features tight. "Rommie, recheck our calculations. Did we miss a trajectory somewhere?"
Rommie was silent, but Andromeda's visage flickered to life on the bridge view screens. "The calculations check out. The probability that this was the intended destination of the ship we were following is 81.2%."
The puzzled frown on Harper's brow deepened. "I don't get it. Where else could the ship be? Andromeda, uhhh, provide likely alternative destinations based on trajectory probabilities."
Andromeda's image was replaced by charts of three star systems. "The most likely alternate destination is here," a planet was lit up on the screen, "but the chance of this being the destination is only about 8%."
For a moment, the bridge was silent, then Dylan and Harper both began to speak at once. Impatiently, Dylan gestured to Harper to continue.
"Uh, I was just going to say, eliminate the impossible and whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth, right?"
"Huh?"
The blond engineer smiled sheepishly. "Old Earth saying. But the ship isn't here, so it must be somewhere else, right?"
With a sigh, the Captain agreed. "OK, Harper, let's go looking for the improb -."
The klaxon sound of blaring alarms cut through his speech. "Dylan, seven Slipstream events two light seconds out. It's the Ogami, and they are preparing to fire!" No sooner had the words left the avatar's lips than the sound of incoming missiles filled the bridge.
"Battlestations! Trance, get up here!" With a brief moment of thankfulness that Galil and her son had long since returned to quarters for a rest - the Com deck being no place for non-combatants or children - Dylan turned to face off against the mercenaries who seemed to be following them.
Tyr's heart thudded in his chest, and he dashed the dripping sweat away from his eyes as he drew air deeply into his lungs. He was tiring quickly, and his leg and head throbbed in painful concert. He was now certain that Beka was being taken somewhere by a group of bi-ped animals of some sort, and the speed at which they seemed to be moving was formidable. He couldn't tell how far they were ahead of him, but he didn't like the possibilities of what might happen to Beka when they finally stopped. Ignoring his growing weariness, Tyr, digging deeply into his Nietzschean stamina, ran on.
The Andromeda shuddered as three missiles evaded her point defense and found homes on her decks. A shower of sparks punctuated Dylan's snapped, "Rommie, open a hailing frequency!" Harper rolled his eyes at that, but stood waiting at the pilot's station for his captain's next move.
"Channel open," Andromeda responded.
"This is Captain Dylan Hunt of the Systems Commonwealth. Stand down your attack! We mean you no harm! We are here trying to retrieve missing crew members and are not hostile!"
A momentary pause in the firing, then, "Dylan, all the Ogami are opening fire! Multiple missiles incoming!"
"That worked well, Boss," Harper smirked.
"Harper, evasive action! Trance, where the heck are you?" Manning the weapons station, Dylan's hands pounded the firing controls, targeting and launching a series of strikes against the seven cruisers facing them. Easily keeping his balance as Harper's enthusiastic maneouvering strained Andromeda's stabilizers, Dylan proved again his High Guard credentials by destroying first one bulky ship, and then another.
A massive crash shook the Com deck, wiping any trace of a smile from Harper's face and bringing a huge frown to his captain's. "Why the heck are these guys attacking us?"
Trance dashed onto the Com Deck just in time to hear this demand. "Aren't those Ogami ships, just like the mercenaries that attacked you a while ago on Haukon Tau?"
"Yeah, but we haven't heard anything from them in a while. Why now?"
"Maybe they just haven't been able to find us until now?"
"C'mon, Trance, these are Ogami. They can ALWAYS find people they've been contracted to kill."
"Well, they've certainly found us now," she observed as the crash of multiple missile strikes rattled again through the ship.
Tyr stumbled, his usual grace completely eliminated by the fatigue and pain beating at him. His naked chest and back were streaked with sweat mixed with the blood from dozens of small cuts collected from the surrounding greenery. He had been running for many hours, and estimated that he'd covered at least 80 kilos. He was nearing the end of his strength, but, he was very much afraid, not the end of his journey. The terrain had changed little - a tiny part of his mind marveled at the size of the forest he was endlessly traversing - and there was nothing within sight to indicate that the beings who had taken Beka had stopped anywhere nearby. Breath whistling through exhausted lungs, Tyr lurched on along the trail.
Beka's nearly naked body, secured to a rough wooden pallet by thongs, convulsed as the IV dumped fluids into her bloodstream. Excited chittering erupted through the room, and grey fingers quickly moved to add an injection to the IV line. The arc of Beka's protesting figure relaxed as she collapsed back onto the bed. More chittering followed as several sets of grey hands worked over her various injuries and scrapes, but Beka remained stubbornly unconscious of the ministrations. Even the sudden violent shaking of the room where she lay did not rouse her.
Tyr stumbled again, this time falling awkwardly to the forest floor. Was the ground shaking around him? For a moment he lay still, winded and nearly at the end of his great endurance. A throaty growl was the only warning he had; he barely managed to snap his bone blades in place before the big cat was on him, teeth and claws ripping at unprotected flesh. Adrenaline flooded his exhausted system as his body reacted to the pain and threat to his survival. With a roar, he grappled with the carnivore, managing to score a deep gouge on the predator's shoulder with a slash of his deadly forearm. The cat screamed its pain and fury as it slashed at Tyr in return, fierce claws sinking into Tyr's unprotected side. Uttering another roar of pain and fury, Tyr fought his body's instinctive reaction to get free and instead reached into the pain, wrapping massive arms around the cat's neck and twisting as its teeth sank deep into his shoulder. With a soundless shudder, the feline died, mouth still locked on Tyr's flesh. Panting from the shock and pain, Tyr ripped the beast's mouth from his shoulder and crawled a few feet to get out from under the weight of its dead body. He could go no further; agony twisted his countenance as he collapsed into unconsciousness.
The eerie light of two more exploding Ogami cruisers lit up space, and the small crew on Andromeda's Com Deck cheered loudly at the sight. "Go, Dylan!" exclaimed a bloodthirsty Harper already resentful of the massive amounts of work he would have to do to fix the Andromeda after this firefight.
Acknowledging the cheers with the crinkle at the corner of his eyes, Dylan fired again, trying to discourage the remaining three cruisers from continuing the battle. For a moment, the Ogami seemed to consider, then, surprising Dylan considerably, they turned to beat a retreat. Rather than exiting the system, however, they came to a stop just outside Andromeda's firing range, clearly waiting for another chance at the starship.
"Great," exclaimed Harper. "Now we've got an audience."
"We're leaving anyway, Mr. Harper, remember?"
"Oh yeah."
Trance's voice was unexpected. "Dylan, I don't think we should leave."
"Why not, Trance?"
"I just think it would be better if we stick around here to try to find Beka and Tyr."
Dylan opened his mouth to question her further, but, after a glance at her stubbornly impassive countenance, he closed it. A pause ensued, then he said, "OK, if they're here and they're not in space, then they are most likely on that planet. Andromeda, scan the planet for Tyr and Beka."
Without a word, the Andromeda Ascendant turned to obey.
No matter how genetically enhanced, Nietzschean blood looked exactly like human blood when it spilled. And a great deal of it had spilled on the forest floor, the watcher noted. Blood trailed along a path where it looked as though a large body had crawled or pulled itself along. Eventually, the watcher found the crumpled figure of the Kodiak. A grim smile touched its lips as it bent over Tyr's prone body.
Beka's return to consciousness was eerily like her swim up through the copper lake to reach air after she'd jumped from the crashed ship. For a while, she was unsure if she would make it, but then she found herself crashing through the wave into the unadulterated light. Only it wasn't so light, and when she found she could not move her arms as they were bound to the bed above her head, it wasn't at all joyous either. Her head ached, her body ached, there was no sign of Tyr and she was tied up in a room she'd never seen before. This, she concluded, could NOT be good. With a bitter set to her mouth, she relaxed onto the hard pallet on which she lay, the better to conserve her strength for when it was needed.
It was not very long before she heard an odd, clicking footstep approaching from behind her head. Tensing, she waited for whatever approached her to enter her field of view. She was unable to stifle a gasp when she her eyes fell onto a hideous, snouted countenance covered with grey fur. Intimidating tusk-like incisors emerged from a mouthful of sharp, yellowed teeth, and Beka got a good look at the teeth as the creature opened its mouth to speak.
The voice that emerged from the savage mouth was surprisingly high. The sounds it made were not recognizable, and after it paused, seemingly inquiringly, Beka kicked her wits into gear. "Don't you speak Common?" she asked the creature, her voice rusty with disuse. "Will you untie me please?" The being chattered back at her with some excitement, but Beka was no more able to understand it than before.
"I'm sorry," she said with growing frustration, "but I don't understand." Beka jerked on her bindings, wincing as the new straps cut into the injuries left from the last time she was bound on a bed. She gestured with her head, trying to make the creature understand that she wanted to be unbound. Her actions were met by a flood of additional speech, none of which she could comprehend. With a sigh, she sagged back on the bed and turned her head to the side. After a short while, the grey creature took the hint and left the room.
Alone again, Beka took a more systematic inventory of the way she was feeling. Though she felt various aches and pains, she had to admit that, except for the bindings and the fact that Tyr was missing, she was finally feeling better than she had for a while. The fever and infection had passed, and she was no longer either thirsty or woozy. She could see, as she looked, that the cuts and abrasions she had suffered were covered with bandages, and they seemed much improved. Best of all, her mind was clear.
But where was she, and, more important, where was Tyr? This whole episode seemed to be systematically stripping her of her friends and her freedom, and now, absolutely alone, Beka fought her feelings of despair by fanning the anger that renewed health made possible. Damn it, why wouldn't they let her go and find Tyr? Her jaw set pugnaciously, Beka settled down to work on getting free, systematically pulling again and again on the bindings that held her immobile.
After a few tries, Dylan managed to figure out how to operate the communications equipment. His hail to the Andromeda was met with obvious relief.
"Dylan! You made it; thank the Divine!"
"I didn't know you believed in the Divine, Harper," Dylan said.
"All those years of Rev must've rubbed off on me."
"Care to open a hangar door for this bucket of bolts?"
"You got it, Boss man. Hangar Door Three opening now. And Dylan? Good to have you back."
"I echo that sentiment," came the measured voice of his ship. Dylan grinned a little at the relief underlying those tones; he, too, was glad to be back in command.
After he landed the little shuttle, he turned to Galil, who had just succeeded in calming her son, with a warm smile. "So, I got an exciting tour of your home; are you two ready for one of mine?"
Galil shuddered a little as she said in a husky voice, "Saskill was never really my home, but I am eager to see yours." Turning to her son, she said, "Ian, we've been too busy to introduce you two before, but I want you to meet Captain Hunt, who has helped us escape from the Szezhume."
Ian's smile was wavery but bright. "Hiya, Captain!" The beginnings of hero worship already shone in his eyes.
"Dylan," said the captain. "Call me Dylan." With a warm smile, he invited both of them onto the Andromeda.
Beka opened bleary eyes as soon as the ship stopped moving. Now her head really hurt, and she'd collected an impressive array of additional bruises during the ship's tumbles, as well. Looking at the dimming viewscreen now over her head, she was just able to make out the lapping of waves against the hull of the ship. Uh-oh, she thought. Better get out of here pronto. But where's Tyr?
Urgency shrilling through her, Beka groped her way to hands and knees and began to quickly look for her shipmate. She found him crumpled on the floor at the other end of the room, the body of an Ogami right beside him. With a quick flood of fear at the strange bonelessness of his position, she crawled over to him. Sticky blood was flowing from a gash on his forehead, mixing with his braids, and several other gashes and cuts showed through rips in his clothing. What a time for him to forgo his hated chain mail, she thought ruefully, but the amusement passed quickly. They had to get out of there.
"Tyr," she said softly, reaching over to shake him. "Tyr, wake up. The ship is sinking, and we've got to get out." For a moment longer she tried to move him, then she stopped to think. Abruptly, Beka changed gears and decided that the best thing to do was to try to get a hatch open before water pressure made that impossible, then come back and rouse Tyr.
Using the walls for support, Beka rose unsteadily to her feet and lurched off the bridge. The nearest hatch she could recall seeing during their explorations was just off the main hall; ignoring the bodies still lying in the corridor she made her way as quickly as possible to the exit.
Operating the controls should have been simple, but when she pushed for door open instead of the flood of light she was expecting the door gave a tortured groan and water began gushing in through the break in the seal. Damn, she thought. This one must already be under water. For a moment, she tried to push the door open manually, but it was just as she had feared: the pressure of the water on the hull made it impossible to get the door open.
With a dismayed look at that hatch, Beka ran off to find another as quickly as possible. As the ship sank, one end had begun rising, and Beka consciously ran uphill to try to find an access hatch that was not already underwater. With a rising sense of panic Beka noticed the water flowing down the corridor as she dashed uphill; obviously the hatch she'd tried to open was not the only source of the leak.
Beka tried corridor after corridor until she was finally successful at locating another hatch. This one, to her relief, opened immediately, and she took a brief second to stick her head out and look at their surroundings.
What she saw reassured her a little; the shore was fairly close; if she could just rouse Tyr they could probably swim for it, provided there were no strange predators in the coppery waters around them. Beka couldn't prevent a shudder as she thought of the elements she was about to face. Planets, she thought with loathing. I hate planets - and we're about to be stuck on one that I know nothing about. Yeecch.
Racing back the to bridge took precious minutes, and Beka was momentarily terrified that the water level might already have closed over Tyr's unconscious head. The water hadn't covered his face, but it was a close thing. Completely disregarding the temperature of the fluid, Beka dropped to her knees beside Tyr and raised his head in her arms, those extravagant locks spilling over her chest and floating on the water surrounding them.
"Tyr." This time her voice was louder and more urgent. "C'mon, guy, wake up. Your survival instincts should be kicking in about now!" Still no response, so she clasped his head to her chest with one arm and began lightly slapping his cheeks with the other hand. "Come ON Tyr, you have to wake up! You're too heavy for me to carry!"
Finally, finally she seemed to be getting through. Tyr's eyelashes fluttered, and then he opened dazed eyes. At first he seemed very confused; his lashes fluttered closed again and he turned his face into her chest, nuzzling into her softness. For just a moment, despite herself, Beka's arms tightened around Tyr's head, cradling him to her. Then urgency reasserted itself, and she moved quickly to awaken him.
Shaking him slightly, Beka said, "Tyr, we have to escape, NOW! The ship is going down!" Tyr's eyes blinked open again, and he finally seemed to become aware of their peril. The water level was perceptibly rising now, and waves sloshed over all of his prone body, up to Beka's waist. Tyr pulled away from Beka and sat up, blinking rapidly.
"Did you get a door open?" He hoped his voice did not reveal his immediate panic.
"Yeah, it's this way." Beka got immediately to her feet, missing Tyr's involuntary expression of relief and gratitude. Having drowned once, Tyr was hoping never to repeat that experience. He struggled to arise and follow her, his head still swimming from the blow that had knocked him out. A strong, slim hand fastened over his wrist and pulled him to his feet.
"This way," she repeated, and she sloshed off down the corridor still pulling him by that clasp on the wrist.
"Can we salvage anything?"
"I don't think we have time." As if to underline her remark, the ship suddenly lurched, and all the internal lights went out. Beka gasped, and Tyr felt his heart sink, but they soon found that enough light from the hatch she had opened penetrated the corridor so they could still see. With unwavering determination, Beka ploughed on through the ever-deepening waters, pulling the groggy Nietzschean behind her.
Dylan brought Galil and Ian straight to the Com deck. For him, it was another homecoming, another safe return against the prevailing odds. Despite his concerns about Beka and Tyr, Dylan was conscious of a deep sense of contentment. He smiled warmly at Rommie as he took his accustomed place near the pilot's chair; Harper and Trance, also on the Deck, looked relieved to see him and very interested in his guests. He was pleased to find them all there so he could make his introductions all at once.
"Rommie, Harper, Trance, I'd like you to meet the woman who helped me escape, Galil Lundergan, and her son Ian." Galil smiled a little shyly at the threesome, as Ian, briefly overwhelmed at the attention, buried his face in his mother's body.
"Hello," said Trance gravely.
"Heya, pretty lady!" Dylan rolled his eyes as Harper greeted Galil predictably.
"Welcome," said Rommie. "Dylan, shall I find them some quarters?"
"Yes, Rommie, please do. Then, Galil, I'm hoping you'll meet me so we can start to figure out how to track down Beka and Tyr. I don't like the thought of them out there alone somewhere."
"Sure, Dylan, so long as Rommie?" she checked with the AI to ensure that she'd gotten that right, and in response to Rommie's brief nod, repeated, "Rommie will show me how to find you. This ship is a beauty, but she sure is large!"
"Why thank you," Rommie replied, drawing a puzzled look from Galil.
"Rommie is an AI, the avatar for this ship," Dylan clarified.
Galil's eyes widened, and she was clearly fascinated by that proposition. "Wow! What genius made you?"
Dylan rolled his eyes again as he heard this disingenuous question; even Trance smiled a little as they waited for his response.
"Genius? Genius! Why, thank you! It's nice to finally get the recognition I've always deserved. Seamus Zelazny Harper, certified genius here, at your service - and I do mean service." Galil's smile turned indulgent as she heard him make that little speech; it was clear to Dylan she she'd taken Harper's measure very quickly and accurately.
"Always glad to give credit where credit is due," she responded lightly. "Rommie - shall we?"
The avatar guided the woman and her small son off the Com deck, leaving Harper open-mouthed on the way to his next sally.
Tyr seemed to revive slightly as they reached the open hatch. With a deepening frown, he looked around, clearly gauging the time left before the ship actually sank. It wasn't much, Beka was certain as she watched the strange, coppery water creep higher over the hull. All the same, she wasn't looking forward to actually swimming in the stuff.
"Beka, is there nothing we can salvage?" Tyr repeated.
Beka frowned for a moment, thinking. "I guess I haven't looked around enough to know. What'd you have in mind?"
"Well, I have a blaster, and my knives. Do you have a weapon?" Beka shook her head. "How about any survival gear?" Again, the headshake. Beka watched with concern as Tyr put the back of one hand to his forehead, obviously fighting off dizziness.
"How about I go salvage real fast, and you wait here to give a yell when I need to be back." Beka thought she saw a flash of relief on that normally impassive countenance.
"Fine. Look for blankets, food, medical supplies and more weapons."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm looking!" Beka threw the last words over her shoulder as she moved as quickly as possible back down the passage. She had not had the pleasure of drowning lately, she reflected, but even so it was strange and scary to hear the water pouring into the ship. Particularly in the near-darkness.
Peering quickly into every door she encountered, Beka was able to make out enough in the rooms near the open hatch to scrounge up a couple of blankets and a basic first aid kit. The mess hall eluded her, but she found a stash of nutri-bars and snacks in one room, which she quickly rolled into the blankets.
"Beka!" Tyr's shout brought her about, and she quickly began to make her way back toward the hatch. "Hurry!"
"Keep your shirt on, Tyr, I'm almost there!" Her voice was breathless, she noted with a frown, but it was enough to quiet him down. He came a few steps away from the hatch as he heard her sloshing nearer; grabbing the rough bundle she'd made out of the blankets, he turned back and climbed the last few steps to the opening.
"Time to go. Can you swim?"
"Umm, after a fashion," she confessed.
"I'll keep an eye on you, but don't grab at me if you get into trouble. I can only swim for us both if you don't panic."
Beka met his eyes gravely for a moment, and nodded. She was not looking forward to this. Without another word, Tyr turned to the roiling copper waters below them and jumped from the hatch. Heart in her mouth, Beka moved to follow him.
Dylan blew out a breath in frustration. "So, you have basically no idea where Beka and Tyr might be?"
His tone was not particularly cordial, and Galil stiffened a bit before she answered. "I'm sorry, Dylan, but no. The Szezhume were not overly helpful in sharing any of their plans that did not involve direct orders."
Dylan looked at her very directly. "And there's no other help you can give us?"
It was Galil's turn to sigh, which she did while rubbing at the frown in her forehead. "Well. They were being taken just as the Szezhume decided to work on me. If the Andromeda was close enough to Saskill by then, perhaps your resident genius could deduce which ship took them and extrapolate its course?"
"That's a good idea." Dylan looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, "Andromeda?"
Galil jumped a little as the ship's hologram jumped into being. "Yes, Dylan?"
"Can you and Harper go over your memory banks to identify any ship that left Saskill about an hour before you rescued us? And if you find one, can you try to track it?"
"Right away." The hologram flickered out, and Dylan smiled a little at Galil's still-wide eyes. "Andromeda can appear in several forms."
"So I see, Dylan," she said, dryly.
Dylan was silent for another moment, then he said, "You know, I'm still lookin' for that meal I haven't had. Would you care to join me?"
"Let me get Ian, and we'd love to," Galil responded. At his nod, she rose gracefully and made her way back to her new quarters to fetch her son.
The drop was longer than it looked from the sinking spaceship, and the water itself significantly chillier than it had seemed within the ship. As Beka hit the surface, the breath was driven from her lungs, and it took long enough for her to reach the surface that she began to worry that she would run out of air before she ran out of water to move through. Finally, she broke through to the surface, gasping and shaking the water from her hair. She looked around immediately, and was reassured to see Tyr's dark head nearby, with one hand holding the bundle of supplies unsteadily atop it.
"OK?" he asked briefly. When she nodded, he turned and struck off for shore, leaving her to marvel anew at the marvelous athleticism of the man. Beka had rather understated her swimming ability; she was pleased to find that her crawl was more than adequate to keep apace his measured movements toward shore.
After about ten minute's swimming, they reached the rocky shore. The lake was smooth and placid, which was a fortunate thing as the rocks that lined its shore were jagged and treacherous. Beka collected another couple of scrapes to add to her general collection as she made her way out of the lake. The taste of the water, which she had unavoidably swallowed a few times, was unpleasantly sharp, and her stomach seemed less than happy to receive it even though she was actually quite thirsty.
Beka frowned at the new worry - where would they find potable water if the lake was not? - but then she turned her attention to making it safely onto the shore. This time, when Tyr stretched out a strong hand to help her, she took it gratefully, nearly exhausted from the day's escapades.
Tyr, too, seemed a little worn. Limping a bit, he set down their bundle on a boulder and, with a brief attempt at a smile in her direction, began to scope out their surroundings, blaster drawn and at the ready. Beka sank down on a nearby rock and watched him, content, for the moment, to let him take the lead.
Tyr disappeared several times into the underbrush that lined the lake's edge, but he soon reappeared and systematically made his way along the shoreline back to her. Beka supposed, idly, that she needed to get moving; the air was cool enough that she was beginning to get chilly. Exhaustion warred with cold, however, and she just wasn't sure she could muster the energy to arise. Dully, she watched Tyr come nearer.
Tyr's worry coalesced as he saw her blank countenance. Beka had pushed herself hard today, hard enough that she'd have been tired even if she had been whole and healthy. With the residue of the drug and surgery still stalking her, he was amazed that she was still upright. Clearly, he was going to have to find some shelter for them right away.
Tyr cast a keen look up at the sky. This planet appeared to be influenced by two suns; its brightest was just setting but its second, smaller sun, bluer in color, was still going strong. No way to know the cycles of the suns, or the temperature swings that they might invoke, although the greenery looked robust enough that Tyr doubted they would face temperature extremes.
Still, as the primary sun set the air was growing perceptibly colder, and he could see Beka, still in wet clothes, begin to shiver.
His brief exploration had revealed a rocky ledge with a bit of an overhang a few paces into the greenery. Beyond the band of shrubs and grasses lining the lakeshore, tall trees grew, their leaves rustling in the evening breeze. Tyr decided to rely on the overhang for shelter for now, and to try to gather wood to make a fire.
Gently, he said, "Beka?" She looked at him, mute, and he gave her another smile. "C'mon, let's head to our luxurious quarters."
With a perceptible effort, she roused herself. "Hot and cold running water, I trust?"
"Of course," he answered, offering her a hand to rise. Beka rose to her feet, leaning heavily, for a moment, on his strength. Then, taking a deep breath, she let him go, standing by sheer effort of will, he thought. He had never admired her more.
Leading the way through the greenery, Tyr brought Beka and their bundle of supplies to the slight overhang that he had seen earlier. Tyr briefly fired his blaster, set on low, at the back wall and floor of the small cave to ensure that no other beings were using the same shelter; then, he turned to his shivering shipmate.
"I am going to find wood for a fire. You should strip off those wet clothes and wrap in a blanket; I think I kept the inner ones pretty dry. Here's the blaster; I'll be back as soon as I can."
"But, you should take the blaster. What if you run into something nasty out there?" Even as out of it as she was, Beka's voice was sharp with concern.
Tyr smiled briefly at her. "I'll be fine. I've got the knives, and my weapons are built in." He snapped out his bone spurs as a demonstration, then turned and made his way swiftly toward the forest.
Rommie's brows twitched together as she heard Dylan laugh merrily. What was going on in the kitchen? It was a place she rarely went, as she had no need for food, but curiosity drew her through the door.
The sight that met her eyes was not one she had ever before seen. Dylan was on the floor of the combined mess and lounge with the dark-haired boy, Ian. Ian was pretending to shoot at Dylan using his finger and thumb as a blaster, and Dylan was shuddering and he took the make-believe hits. Rolling around in a pretend death agony, Dylan ambushed the little boy, sweeping his knees out from under him and catching him on the way down. Peels of giggles filled the air as Dylan tickled the boy in a ritual as old as mankind.
Galil was leaning off to the side, watching the byplay with amusement, wonder and worry warring in her eyes. Rommie crossed over to join her, carefully avoiding the fight pattern of the two males. For a moment, both were silent as they watched the wrestling match. Eventually, Galil spoke. "Dylan's wonderful with children!"
Rommie nodded. "I must confess to being a little surprised. I have never seen him play like this." Indeed, as Dylan's rich laugh filled the room again, it was not clear to either woman who was enjoying the contest of skills more.
Galil turned to smile warmly at Rommie. "Dylan was sure you were waiting for us, you know? He was absolutely convinced you were here."
Rommie smiled faintly. "Well, I always make it a policy to locate him as soon as I can if I've misplaced him."
Galil laughed a little, her eyes on the tall, strong figure playing with her son. "I can see why."
For a moment, Rommie closed her eyes, not reacting, then she turned suddenly to Dylan. "Dylan, Harper has some news for you. He would like you to come to the Com deck."
Startled out of play mode, Dylan froze for a moment on the floor mid-growl, then he smiled a little sheepishly and rose to his feet. "Sorry, partner," he said to Ian, kneeling down briefly to get back to the boy's level. "I have to go now. Duty calls."
The little boy nodded back at Dylan, very gravely. Dylan reached out and ruffled the boy's dark hair, smiled at Galil, then turned and walked with Rommie to the bridge.
When Tyr got back to the overhang, he was met by the sight of Beka's clothing draped neatly over nearby bushes to dry. Arms loaded with wood and kindling, Tyr maneuvered around the bushes until he got a clear view of the small cave's interior. Beka was sprawled within, lying on one of their blankets while wrapped in another, and she seemed to be asleep. A smile touched his mouth as he noted that her slackened hand still was folded around the blaster.
Moving as quietly as possible, Tyr put down the wood and cleared a place for a fire near where Beka was lying. As he carefully layered dry grasses, small twigs and logs until he had the makings of a good blaze, he took a moment to reflect thankfully on his extensive skills at roughing it. Carefully removing the blaster from Beka's limp fingers, he fired a brief shot at the tinder on low. As he'd hoped, the tinder caught, and he soon had a crackling blaze going.
Tyr was very tired, and also hungry. Beka had unpacked their few belongings neatly, and Tyr fell gratefully upon a couple of the nutribars, opening them carefully to preserve their wrappers. One of the things they were most lacking, Tyr thought, was containers for carrying water or food, and he was loathe to dispose of anything that might prove useful.
Tyr's own clothes had mostly dried on him by now, so after he had eaten, he stoked the fire and, taking the third blanket, rolled himself in it and lay down next to Beka. He set the blaster close at hand and settled himself down for some much-needed rest.
His thoughts, before he allowed sleep to claim him, were not pleasant. He had fought his way onto the bridge of the alien ship and not had a chance to get even a hint about what system they had entered. He knew nothing about the planet they were stranded on, and they had very few resources. Also, if Beka were to become ill from the day's events, he had little with which to treat her. All in all, though they might have been worse off, the situation was unfavorable.
And had Dylan survived? Had he somehow made it back to the Andromeda? If so, how would Dylan ever find them, Tyr wondered. Certainly, if he had made it back to the Andromeda, he would look, particularly, he reflected objectively, for Beka. But space was large, and a single planet hard to distinguish. Maybe Trance's odd skills would help the Andromeda locate them.
Tyr gave a brief sigh, then gave himself over to sleep. There were no easy answers, and he needed the rest.
"What's up Harper?" Dylan entered the Com deck at a brisk walk.
"Hiya, Boss. Well, we think we've found the ship that likely had Beka and Tyr on it; this ship," he gestured to the viewscreen, "received a shuttle from the surface and then took off at about the right time. Problem is, we're so late it'll be real tough to track them through Slipstream. I can't think of anything else to try though."
Dylan pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "OK, Harper, let's go for it. See if you can track them down."
Harper, from the pilot's seat, nodded. "Streaming in 5, 4, 3." The Slipstream station moved to embrace him as the Andromeda made the transition into the alternative space.
Trance was surprised to hear the sound of crying emanating from the kitchen. Brows drawn together, she walked swiftly into the room, wondering absently how long they would be stuck in Slipstream. She had always hated the feel of this particular mode of transportation, and changing places with her younger self had not lessened her distaste.
Within the room, Ian was huddled on the floor in his mother's arms, crying as though his heart would break. Galil, trying to comfort him, was obviously struggling for self-control herself. Trance walked closer to the pair and kneeled down where the boy could see her if he choked back his sobs enough to look up.
"Hiya," she said softly. Galil's eyes flicked to her, then returned to her son. Trance waited a moment, then tried again. "You seem sad. What's the matter?"
After a moment, Galil answered in a slightly unsteady voice. "We're not too sure what's going on. The ship lurched and now everything feels very strange. It's kind of scary for someone who's never been in space before."
Trance's eyes widened as she took that in. "You mean you've never been in space before?"
"Well, I have, many years ago. But Ian never has. Why did the ship lurch?"
"We went into the sliptream, that's why."
"Oh, is that what's going on?" Relief dawned in Galil's eyes. "It's been so long I'd forgotten what it feels like." Galil turned back to her son. "Did you hear Trance, Ian? She said that we're in the Slipstream. Everything is going to be all right."
The boy sobbed once more, then gulped, wiping his face on his mother's shirt. Looking up at Trance, he said in a quavery voice, "What's Slipstream?"
"Well, Slipstream is a way to travel extra long distances in space very quickly. It's kind of a different dimension in space, you know? And not every ship can travel on the Slipstream, but Andromeda is very good at it." Trance's voice was warm and reassuring, and after another sniff, the boy calmed. "How old is he, Galil?"
Always happy to discuss her son, Galil answered, "He's nearly five."
"Wow, so old," Trance responded. "Listen, guys, would you like to visit hydroponics, where I grow the plants for this ship? Would you enjoy seeing that?"
Ian, wiping tear-stained eyes, was heard to say that he would, so he left with Trance and his mother.
Tyr awoke some eight hours later, according to his chrono. As was typical for him, he was instantly awake, but he was unsure of what had roused him. Brows drawn together, he extended his senses, straining to see, in the dim light, past the remains of their fire.
It had grown perceptibly colder. Beka, he was slightly amused to note, was cuddled up against him for warmth; after a moment longer of careful listening, he shifted a little, settling her against him more comfortably and turning on his back. His hand brushed her forehead, and he frowned, assessing the heat radiating from her. This was not an ordinary nighttime warmth; she was brewing a fever of some magnitude.
Tyr swore under his breath, abruptly concerned. This was exactly what he had been worried about. He had very little means for helping her through this; fervently, he hoped that her immune system was up to fighting off whatever infection was stalking her. The frown on his brow took up extended residence as he tightened his arm around her.
He had almost fallen back to sleep when her violent trembling began again.
*POSTED ON SS TO HERE*
Slipstreaming was in imprecise science; its efficiency depended partly upon the skill of the commanding pilot, partly on the frequency with which a route was traveled, and partly upon blind luck. The same trip could take one pilot an hour, and a second, six or seven. Under Harper's competent control, the Andromeda made several jumps, following what he deduced and imagined the earlier ship's trail to be. Even given his technical gifts, however, the trip extended for several hours. Dylan, pacing the Com deck impatiently, wordlessly urged him to hurry as they made the jumps to take them to the other ship. Hopefully, they would not be too late.
"Thirsty," Beka's voice was croaky and dry, and Tyr moved quickly from the log he had appropriated for a seat to help her sit up and give her a sip out of the nutribar wrappers that he'd filled with water from the lake. Beka had been asleep or unconscious for several hours since her last bout of tremors, and Tyr was hoping her body was fighting off whatever infection she had developed.
Beka leaned against the hard strength of Tyr's arm and chest as she fumbled to drink from the collapsible container. Tyr watched as she managed to take several swallows, grimacing against the metallic taste. But the water agreed even less with her system this time, and she barely had time to gasp out, "Sick!" before she bowed over to the side, retching out the few swallows she had just managed to consume.
Brow creased, Tyr held her while her body spasmed. When she relaxed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, he gently laid her down again on her nest of blankets.
"Sorry, Tyr, think that water does not work for me." Beka's voice was very weak.
"So I deduced. Beka, I have got to find you something to drink. Here's the blaster. Stay awake if you can, and I'll be back. There's got to be a source of potable water somewhere; I'll find it if I can."
"Thanks." This time, Beka didn't even protest. With a brief nod, Tyr turned and ran into the woods, setting a steady pace that he could maintain for many minutes.
When the Andromeda materialized out of Slipstream for the fifth time, Dylan had had enough. "Harper, where are we? And where is it that you think we're headed?"
Harper, looking slightly strained from the demands of Slipstreaming, took a swig of Sparky Cola before he answered. "We're followin' a signature trail from one of those cruisers that were in orbit around Saskill. We--."
Andromeda flickered to life on the viewscreens, interrupting. "Dylan, sensors indicate approaching ships, vectoring into combat format."
"Identification?"
"They appear to be Ogami."
"Damn. Harper, evasive action. Rommie, can you fire a warning shot, give 'em something to think about while we go into Slipstream?"
"Aye, sir, missile away." As always, Rommie's voice sounded cool and collected.
Steam rising from the water in the small clearing that he eventually came across made Tyr frown. Another dead end. This was the third water source he'd found, and none had had water pure enough that Beka could drink it. Grimacing at the heat, Tyr knelt down, cupped his hands and took a drink.
Surprisingly, the water, though unpleasantly warm, tasted far purer than the other samples he had tried. With a huff of pleased surprise, Tyr fumbled at his waist for the makeshift water pouches he had fashioned from the nutribar wrappers he'd saved.
Tyr's skin was sheened with sweat, his massive chest rising and falling rapidly as he bent over the stream. He'd stripped off his shirt to form a makeshift carrying pouch, and in addition to the water packets he was carrying some fruits he had gathered along the way. Despite his success at foraging, the frown on his brow did not waver as he hastily filled the packets and sprinted from the clearing. He had to get back to Beka.
The rustling in the underbrush sounded loud in the day's silence, but it did not rouse Beka. Slowly three figures crept closer to her prone body, muttering in a strange, highly-pitched tone as they began to examine her. Rough grey hands reached out and touched her skin, shifting through her hair as if searching for treasure. The strange, gibbering sounds increased in volume as the creatures grew more bold, and one darted off into the bushes to summon three of its more timid fellows.
After a thorough exam, the creatures apparently concluded that the lifeless figure was somehow valuable for, grasping hold of sides of the blanket on which Beka lay, the creatures hefted her lying figure and, with a great deal of additional chatter, began to move off together into the forest. Soon, all was still and silent in the primitive campsite.
"Woo-hoooo!" Harper's exuberant exclamation, though slightly muffled by the embrace of the pilot's chair, came through loudly as the Andromeda leapt into Slipstream. "We sure held those bastards off!"
Dylan's expression lightened at Harper's exuberance, but his face remained grave. "Where to next, Mr. Harper, and when will we finish this?"
"Ahh, Boss, I can't tell you for sure, but I'm hopin' we're comin' to the end. We've almost reached a trader system, and that may be where our Saskillion friends took Beka and Tyr. Here's hoping, anyway."
"Here's hoping," Dylan agreed heavily.
Trance stood beside Galil, watching Ian discover the joys of the gym adjacent to hydroponics. With a whoop, the boy ran from one end of the gym to the other, kicking Dylan's beloved basketball and trying to beat it across the floor. Trance's expression flickered as she felt the faint shudder of the ship firing a missile, then Slipstream took them again. Ian whimpered for just a moment, then turned his attention back to his ball while his mother smile bravely at him, all the while holding tight to Trance's hand.
Tyr stood leaning over, bracing his hands on his thighs as his chest heaved. His eyes, dark with dismay, drank in the empty campsite again and again, as if he doubted the evidence of his senses the first several times.
Where could she have gone? And, he noted, without the clothing still draped over the nearby bushes?
Still breathing heavily, Tyr took several steps nearer the remains of the fire, keen gaze raking the ground where he'd left his crewmate. The ground was carpeted with needles from the nearby trees - he grimaced to think how carefully he'd piled those there, to help her rest easier - but there were patches of dirt among the debris. His careful examination revealed.pawprints of some sort? Tyr squatted to look closer, his frown growing heavier as he measured the span of the unusual tracks, and the claw imprints at the end of each toe pad.
There were no traces of Beka's footprints, so Tyr was forced to conclude, with a stab of fear for her, that whoever or whatever had left the large tracks had carried her off. In a quick swipe he gathered her clothing together from the bush and stuffed it into the bundle at his waist. With no further preparation, he bent his gaze back to the forest floor and began racing along the trail left by Beka's abductors.
The Andromeda shuddered slightly as it left the Slipstream behind. Ahead, her viewscreens showed a placid star system, with its little inter-stellar traffic concentrated in orbit around one slight planet.
"Rommie, any of those ships the one we're tracing?" Dylan's voice was clipped.
Rommie closed her eyes for a moment, then met his gaze with concern. "None of those ships match the rad signature that we've been following."
"What? Rommie, scan the whole system, will ya?" Harper's voice was full of protest.
"I already have, Harper. That ship is not in this system."
Harper frowned for a moment, the anxiety he was feeling for Beka and - he admitted privately, for the big Uber as well - drawing his features tight. "Rommie, recheck our calculations. Did we miss a trajectory somewhere?"
Rommie was silent, but Andromeda's visage flickered to life on the bridge view screens. "The calculations check out. The probability that this was the intended destination of the ship we were following is 81.2%."
The puzzled frown on Harper's brow deepened. "I don't get it. Where else could the ship be? Andromeda, uhhh, provide likely alternative destinations based on trajectory probabilities."
Andromeda's image was replaced by charts of three star systems. "The most likely alternate destination is here," a planet was lit up on the screen, "but the chance of this being the destination is only about 8%."
For a moment, the bridge was silent, then Dylan and Harper both began to speak at once. Impatiently, Dylan gestured to Harper to continue.
"Uh, I was just going to say, eliminate the impossible and whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth, right?"
"Huh?"
The blond engineer smiled sheepishly. "Old Earth saying. But the ship isn't here, so it must be somewhere else, right?"
With a sigh, the Captain agreed. "OK, Harper, let's go looking for the improb -."
The klaxon sound of blaring alarms cut through his speech. "Dylan, seven Slipstream events two light seconds out. It's the Ogami, and they are preparing to fire!" No sooner had the words left the avatar's lips than the sound of incoming missiles filled the bridge.
"Battlestations! Trance, get up here!" With a brief moment of thankfulness that Galil and her son had long since returned to quarters for a rest - the Com deck being no place for non-combatants or children - Dylan turned to face off against the mercenaries who seemed to be following them.
Tyr's heart thudded in his chest, and he dashed the dripping sweat away from his eyes as he drew air deeply into his lungs. He was tiring quickly, and his leg and head throbbed in painful concert. He was now certain that Beka was being taken somewhere by a group of bi-ped animals of some sort, and the speed at which they seemed to be moving was formidable. He couldn't tell how far they were ahead of him, but he didn't like the possibilities of what might happen to Beka when they finally stopped. Ignoring his growing weariness, Tyr, digging deeply into his Nietzschean stamina, ran on.
The Andromeda shuddered as three missiles evaded her point defense and found homes on her decks. A shower of sparks punctuated Dylan's snapped, "Rommie, open a hailing frequency!" Harper rolled his eyes at that, but stood waiting at the pilot's station for his captain's next move.
"Channel open," Andromeda responded.
"This is Captain Dylan Hunt of the Systems Commonwealth. Stand down your attack! We mean you no harm! We are here trying to retrieve missing crew members and are not hostile!"
A momentary pause in the firing, then, "Dylan, all the Ogami are opening fire! Multiple missiles incoming!"
"That worked well, Boss," Harper smirked.
"Harper, evasive action! Trance, where the heck are you?" Manning the weapons station, Dylan's hands pounded the firing controls, targeting and launching a series of strikes against the seven cruisers facing them. Easily keeping his balance as Harper's enthusiastic maneouvering strained Andromeda's stabilizers, Dylan proved again his High Guard credentials by destroying first one bulky ship, and then another.
A massive crash shook the Com deck, wiping any trace of a smile from Harper's face and bringing a huge frown to his captain's. "Why the heck are these guys attacking us?"
Trance dashed onto the Com Deck just in time to hear this demand. "Aren't those Ogami ships, just like the mercenaries that attacked you a while ago on Haukon Tau?"
"Yeah, but we haven't heard anything from them in a while. Why now?"
"Maybe they just haven't been able to find us until now?"
"C'mon, Trance, these are Ogami. They can ALWAYS find people they've been contracted to kill."
"Well, they've certainly found us now," she observed as the crash of multiple missile strikes rattled again through the ship.
Tyr stumbled, his usual grace completely eliminated by the fatigue and pain beating at him. His naked chest and back were streaked with sweat mixed with the blood from dozens of small cuts collected from the surrounding greenery. He had been running for many hours, and estimated that he'd covered at least 80 kilos. He was nearing the end of his strength, but, he was very much afraid, not the end of his journey. The terrain had changed little - a tiny part of his mind marveled at the size of the forest he was endlessly traversing - and there was nothing within sight to indicate that the beings who had taken Beka had stopped anywhere nearby. Breath whistling through exhausted lungs, Tyr lurched on along the trail.
Beka's nearly naked body, secured to a rough wooden pallet by thongs, convulsed as the IV dumped fluids into her bloodstream. Excited chittering erupted through the room, and grey fingers quickly moved to add an injection to the IV line. The arc of Beka's protesting figure relaxed as she collapsed back onto the bed. More chittering followed as several sets of grey hands worked over her various injuries and scrapes, but Beka remained stubbornly unconscious of the ministrations. Even the sudden violent shaking of the room where she lay did not rouse her.
Tyr stumbled again, this time falling awkwardly to the forest floor. Was the ground shaking around him? For a moment he lay still, winded and nearly at the end of his great endurance. A throaty growl was the only warning he had; he barely managed to snap his bone blades in place before the big cat was on him, teeth and claws ripping at unprotected flesh. Adrenaline flooded his exhausted system as his body reacted to the pain and threat to his survival. With a roar, he grappled with the carnivore, managing to score a deep gouge on the predator's shoulder with a slash of his deadly forearm. The cat screamed its pain and fury as it slashed at Tyr in return, fierce claws sinking into Tyr's unprotected side. Uttering another roar of pain and fury, Tyr fought his body's instinctive reaction to get free and instead reached into the pain, wrapping massive arms around the cat's neck and twisting as its teeth sank deep into his shoulder. With a soundless shudder, the feline died, mouth still locked on Tyr's flesh. Panting from the shock and pain, Tyr ripped the beast's mouth from his shoulder and crawled a few feet to get out from under the weight of its dead body. He could go no further; agony twisted his countenance as he collapsed into unconsciousness.
The eerie light of two more exploding Ogami cruisers lit up space, and the small crew on Andromeda's Com Deck cheered loudly at the sight. "Go, Dylan!" exclaimed a bloodthirsty Harper already resentful of the massive amounts of work he would have to do to fix the Andromeda after this firefight.
Acknowledging the cheers with the crinkle at the corner of his eyes, Dylan fired again, trying to discourage the remaining three cruisers from continuing the battle. For a moment, the Ogami seemed to consider, then, surprising Dylan considerably, they turned to beat a retreat. Rather than exiting the system, however, they came to a stop just outside Andromeda's firing range, clearly waiting for another chance at the starship.
"Great," exclaimed Harper. "Now we've got an audience."
"We're leaving anyway, Mr. Harper, remember?"
"Oh yeah."
Trance's voice was unexpected. "Dylan, I don't think we should leave."
"Why not, Trance?"
"I just think it would be better if we stick around here to try to find Beka and Tyr."
Dylan opened his mouth to question her further, but, after a glance at her stubbornly impassive countenance, he closed it. A pause ensued, then he said, "OK, if they're here and they're not in space, then they are most likely on that planet. Andromeda, scan the planet for Tyr and Beka."
Without a word, the Andromeda Ascendant turned to obey.
No matter how genetically enhanced, Nietzschean blood looked exactly like human blood when it spilled. And a great deal of it had spilled on the forest floor, the watcher noted. Blood trailed along a path where it looked as though a large body had crawled or pulled itself along. Eventually, the watcher found the crumpled figure of the Kodiak. A grim smile touched its lips as it bent over Tyr's prone body.
Beka's return to consciousness was eerily like her swim up through the copper lake to reach air after she'd jumped from the crashed ship. For a while, she was unsure if she would make it, but then she found herself crashing through the wave into the unadulterated light. Only it wasn't so light, and when she found she could not move her arms as they were bound to the bed above her head, it wasn't at all joyous either. Her head ached, her body ached, there was no sign of Tyr and she was tied up in a room she'd never seen before. This, she concluded, could NOT be good. With a bitter set to her mouth, she relaxed onto the hard pallet on which she lay, the better to conserve her strength for when it was needed.
It was not very long before she heard an odd, clicking footstep approaching from behind her head. Tensing, she waited for whatever approached her to enter her field of view. She was unable to stifle a gasp when she her eyes fell onto a hideous, snouted countenance covered with grey fur. Intimidating tusk-like incisors emerged from a mouthful of sharp, yellowed teeth, and Beka got a good look at the teeth as the creature opened its mouth to speak.
The voice that emerged from the savage mouth was surprisingly high. The sounds it made were not recognizable, and after it paused, seemingly inquiringly, Beka kicked her wits into gear. "Don't you speak Common?" she asked the creature, her voice rusty with disuse. "Will you untie me please?" The being chattered back at her with some excitement, but Beka was no more able to understand it than before.
"I'm sorry," she said with growing frustration, "but I don't understand." Beka jerked on her bindings, wincing as the new straps cut into the injuries left from the last time she was bound on a bed. She gestured with her head, trying to make the creature understand that she wanted to be unbound. Her actions were met by a flood of additional speech, none of which she could comprehend. With a sigh, she sagged back on the bed and turned her head to the side. After a short while, the grey creature took the hint and left the room.
Alone again, Beka took a more systematic inventory of the way she was feeling. Though she felt various aches and pains, she had to admit that, except for the bindings and the fact that Tyr was missing, she was finally feeling better than she had for a while. The fever and infection had passed, and she was no longer either thirsty or woozy. She could see, as she looked, that the cuts and abrasions she had suffered were covered with bandages, and they seemed much improved. Best of all, her mind was clear.
But where was she, and, more important, where was Tyr? This whole episode seemed to be systematically stripping her of her friends and her freedom, and now, absolutely alone, Beka fought her feelings of despair by fanning the anger that renewed health made possible. Damn it, why wouldn't they let her go and find Tyr? Her jaw set pugnaciously, Beka settled down to work on getting free, systematically pulling again and again on the bindings that held her immobile.