Chapter Twenty

We didn't have much time to spread the kudos.

As soon as we were in, Kat and Jessie took hold of Leah and dragged her off to sick bay, to clean her up. Her best fighting was still at best hardly noticeable, and I saw her stop struggling, passing out before they ever made it to the sick bay room from the corridor.

"What happened?" Caleb asked. The horror and disgust were palpable.

"Drug they give to the workers," I said. "I'm really not sure what happened after that. Can we help her out, or do I need to try to find more of the drug before we jump to Z-Space?"

Caleb shrugged. "Our sick bay's usually good at creating synthetic material, but I would ask Jessie first. It's more of her thing."

I sat for a moment. Just tired. But then I sighed, and got up to go.

When I reached the sick bay, Kat and Jessie had already managed to clean Leah off, and get her into clean clothes. She was still trying to tell us she wanted to go back. Jessie looked at me.

"Do you know what happened?"

"Leah has a sensitivity to drugs. You could give her a quarter or so of something and it would have the same affect on her as a full dosage. So being repeatedly given a full dosage for someone of her size..."

"They accidentally gave her too much to be useful to them."

Jessie nodded. "I'm trying to make a synthetic right now, to hold over her symptoms. It might take a while though."

"Is there no way to just fix it? I mean..." I looked at Leah, feeling queasy. It was different from injuries, somehow. Sad, and pathetic. "I mean, no way to just cure her without the side effects?"

Jessie shook her head. "We've been getting more effective in medical technology to help people through the process of recovery. But it's not exactly at a point where we can just give someone a pill and it all goes away. We just have to hope it all happens quickly. I wouldn't even give Leah a synthetic, except I think the withdrawal period might honestly kill her at this point."

"We are also going to be giving her treatments for hydration and nutrients, as well. This thing really took a destructive blow to her appetite. The infections from parasites on her skin – and bacterial infections – will be taken care of very quickly in comparison."

I looked at Leah again. They were using force fields to keep her restrained to her bed, but I wasn't sure they were even necessary given how weak she was at the moment. It was like looking at a skeleton with skin. I was embarrassed, but I shuddered.

Kat and Jessie were managing to look at this so objectively, in comparison.

"Thanks."

Turning around, I quickly left the room. Outside and on the way back to the bridge, I saw Ax.

‹That filthy planet!› he spat. He had, of course, seen Leah as soon as we got out of the dark and into the light of the Estrella.

"I agree, Ax. Well, it might be a little more complicated than that, but I agree with the sentiment."

Sam and Caleb had gone back to manage the computers and other information. Lahsailat and Jaela were managing the navigation and other involved controls for directing the Estrella. Marco was on defense, ready for setting up the force fields and other distractions.

Kat suddenly said, "Incoming message – from an Andalite frequency."

"It may be our friend, Ondrean."

Kat thought it over, and then opened communications to greet him. We didn't get to look at him visually, but his thought-speak, familiar, came in and out with some difficulty.

‹Prince Aximili?›

‹It is I.›

Kat gave him a bit of a look, but went back to managing the controls she had, and told me to handle the Zero-space preparations.

‹I have found... Promising people... Crew. Where we discussed. The Andalites are being... Awful politicians... Still under the eyes.›

"We can't hear you," Kat said, trying to maintain deference. "But we will attempt to contact you again to make sure we have the message correct at the soonest convenience.

I went back to handling the Z-Space controls.

"Prepare for the jump."

But as I set the controls, I saw a familiar spacecraft.

The Blade Ship.

I looked straight at it. And I knew that the people on it, and The One, were looking at me. I could feel time slowing to a stop as we all turned our attention to it, knowing, if it attacked, we had no way to fend it off. We had not managed to successfully put the weapons from the Researcher onto the Estrella.

But even as time stood still for that long moment, preparing for Z-Space, setting coordinates for the place we were to meet with Ondrean, the Blade Ship turned, and made its own jump into Z-Space.

"Why do you think they left us alone? Why let us go at our most vulnerable?"

"Maybe because we are vulnerable," I said, weary. "Maybe because we still managed to cause it a lot of pain last time."

I didn't know why they had made their decision. But The One, and the crew on the Blade Ship, had decided to leave us alone. This time. I set the rest of the controls, and we punched it as we made the jump, leaving the Cryhalis planet behind us.