Chapter 14

Dr. Vorst bobbed his jowled head, "Well Flight Officer Raan, unlike the last time Tana brought you in here, this time I can happily say you have a clean bill of health."

Seated on the edge of the examination table, Tilyer nodded glumly. "Thank you."

The Aqualish peered down at him with genuine concern. The previously stoic and proud officer now seemed somehow deflated. "You're lucky to be alive, you know. The Belsavan Mantis is quite a voracious predator. It seems that yet again you are indebted to Tana." He gestured to where the young woman stood against the wall giving Tilyer a hard stare.

For a moment Tilyer wanted to rebuke her with a defiant stare of his own, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to do so. He just sat silently as Dr. Vorst kept talking.

"I think I told you this previously, but that mantis really is an intriguing component of the silk-farming operation here, though I doubt you were listening. Maybe this experience will teach you to open your ears more, hmm? Anyway, like I told you before many of the life forms on pre-ice age Belsavis existed in a symbiotic relationship, the mantis included. So in order to harvest the silk, it became necessary to include this rather dangerous predator in the ecosystem. As a species, they strongly dislike open terrain, so there is no danger of them ever leaving the silk fields, but for the harvest, their existence becomes a bit more problematic. To curb their involvement, we bathe the fields in a type of insecticide smoke that sends them into a dormant state during which we can harvest the silk. Quite ingenious, if I may say so."

Tilyer didn't respond.

The doctor frowned, "Are you alright?"

He nodded slowly, "I'm just not feeling very energetic at the moment."

"Oh, I suppose such a harrowing experience would leave anyone feeling a bit drained. Well, I'll leave Tana here to keep you company while I check on some other things." He gave Tilyer a pat on the shoulder, and then headed out the door.

Silence ensued for several long moments before Tana finally spoke. "Now do you believe me?"

"I'm sorry," Tilyer managed weakly.

"You're sorry? That's all you can say after I saved your ass for the second time?"

Tilyer opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off with a humorless laugh.

"But then again, should I have expected anything more? Since the time you've been here, all you've done is bitch and complain—not a single word of thanks for pulling your body out of that wreck of a fighter, for nursing you back to health, or even for something as simple as feeding you for a few days. You act as if it's all your right, as if because you wear that precious uniform of yours that the rest of the universe somehow owes you something. But you know what? You're just a man. No, you're not even that. You're a little boy who thinks he's special because he gets to hang out with the playground bully." She took a breathe meaning to continue her tirade, but Tilyer's soft words stopped her.

"You're right."

Tana stopped. "What did you just say?"

"I said you're right, and I'm sorry," he replied. For the first time since the incident, he met her gaze. "I've been a selfish, condescending child, when I should have been eternally grateful. Without you and your people, I'd be frozen somewhere out there on the ice fields or who knows what and . . . well, I'm sorry."

Tana seemed taken aback. "Well . . . you should be."

He wanted to continue, but his voice caught in his throat, and he glanced down once again. He wanted to continue his apology, but the words wouldn't come. All he could think about was staring down the barrel of that blaster, willing into fruition every courageous fiber of his being, and ultimately finding nothing to hold on to but his own cowardice. Even with the grandeur of the Empire with which to found his valor upon, his resolve toppled like a house of cards.

"I'm sorry . . . " he finally repeated.

Tana sighed and hung her head. She was silent for several long moments. Then she moved over to the examination table, boosting herself up onto it next to Tilyer. She looked as if she wanted to say something, but instead she just patted his knee. They sat there for a while, both wanting to say something to break the painful silence, but neither finding the right words.

Finally Tilyer raised his eyes to meet Tana's. Staring into those cool blue opals wasn't like the holovids depicted it. There was no spark of romance born from a harrowing near-death experience. They didn't slowly lean in for a kiss and then madly press their lips and bodies together in a fit of passion. He didn't even feel the urge to. Searching Tana's face, he found no underlying affection, no tender compassion waiting to bloom into full force with but a word. Instead he found simple understanding. And that was enough.

The pair almost jumped as the door suddenly hissed open. Oltan strode through, his face its usual stoic mask. The corners of his mouth quirked in a frown as he saw Tana sitting beside Tilyer, but he quickly redirected his evident distaste to other matters.

"Well, you'll be happy to know we finally got in touch with your ship," he almost spat.

"You did?" Tilyer asked.

Oltan rolled his eyes, "What, you think I'm lying to you?"

"No . . . not at all."

"Well c'mon. The people over in Green VIII have agreed to let you hitch a ride on their transport."

"So . . . I'm going home after all?" Tilyer asked in mild disbelief.

"So long as it's not here, I don't care where the hell you go," Oltan grunted. "Now c'mon. The transport will be here in thirty minutes, and I don't want you hanging around here any long than you have to."

Tilyer nodded and stood. He cast a glance back at Tana and then followed Oltan out.


Linia keyed the chime on Urtis Dusat's door for the third time. "Come on Urtis, the mess hall closes in fifteen minutes!" she called aloud.

Still no answer.

Tana shook her head, knocking again though she knew it was probably futile. Urtis was supposed to have met her ten minutes before, but she hadn't heard a thing from him since they made agreed to meet for dinner earlier that morning.

She sighed and plucked her comm. link from her belt, calling up the security officer on the bridge. "Lieutenant Milne, this is Ensign Taulin. Do you copy?"

The voice on the other end crackled through, "Yes, I copy."

"Sorry to bother you sir, but do you have any idea where Ensign Dusat is?"

"Not off the top of my head, why?"

"We were supposed to meet 15 minutes ago, and no one's seen him."

"And you called me because?"

"I was hoping you could find out something from the security logs."

The security officer sighed, "You know we're not supposed access that kind of information for something like this."

"I know, but I'm worried."

Lieutenant Milne sighed once more, "Okay, let me see what I can find out, but you owe me."

"Thank you."

A long minute passed before Milne's voice came back over the comm. link. "According to the access codes used, he should still be in his quarters."

"You're sure?"

"As sure as I can be."

Linia was silent as she gnawed her lip.

"Will that be all?" Milne asked impatiently.

"Yes sir. Thank you sir."

Lieutenant Milne cut the connection, and Linia slipped the commlink back into her breast pocket. This was troubling. Urtis wouldn't just blow off a meal without a good reason, and if he was in there he surely would have answered the door. Something had to be wrong, she was sure of it.

She frowned and reached out to hit the door release on the off chance that the door wasn't locked. Too her surprise, the door hissed open at her touch to reveal Dusat's darkened cabin. She peered into the darkness, "Urtis? Are you there?" A slight motion in the gloom caught her eye. "Urtis? Is that you?" She took a step into the room, feeling along the near wall for the light switch. With a slight tap, the glow panels along the ceiling flickered to life.

And then Linia saw what had been moving. Hanging from the ceiling strung up by his own belt, Lieutenant Dusat's blue-faced body swung lazily to and fro, his eyes and mouth open in a silent scream that was somehow louder than mere words could ever be.