D'Mok Revival 1: Awakening (30 page)

“Please be aware, this area is sealed until further investigation can be conducted,” Bob said flatly.

“Please, I need to help her.”

“I understand,” Bob said. Mencari thought the bot sounded almost compassionate. “Medical droids have been dispatched and are in route. They will assess the subject and determine proper outcomes.”

“Thank you,” Mencari said gratefully.

“In the future, please refrain from risking exposure to my station and inhabitants,” Bob said with a slightly scolding tone. “Informing station authorities in advance of potential biohazards is recommended. Then we can provide assistance while safeguarding others.”

Bob grew still, before adding, “I have received an inbound transmission for you. Shall I open the connection?”

“For me?” Mencari said, wondering who would be contacting him. “Yes, please, go ahead.”

A hologram of Eyani appeared.

“Rhysus,” she said alarmed. “Is everything alright? I’m seeing a quarantine at the location listed.”

“It’s one of my team members, Allia,” Mencari explained. “She has been exposed to a large dose of radiation.”

She paused, seeming to search for the right thing to say.

“You came to the right place,” Eyani said reassuringly. “We can help her.”

She hesitated again. Mencari found himself wondering why she was contacting him.

“Bob, please route any expenses incurred to my account. Mencari and his companions are in my care. They have been employed as data seekers.”

“Understood,” Bob replied.

A small swarm of Bob-like robots sped around the corner, stopping next to Mencari.

“The response team has arrived,” Bob informed.

“She’ll be in good hands, Rhysus,” Eyani said.

* * * * *

"Can you see if there’s an update on her condition?" Toriko asked for the hundredth time as she, Mencari, Seigie and Naijen sat in the medical station’s waiting area.

Perhaps they had brought Allia to the right place, but he still felt a heavy burden and guilt. He was supposed to have kept her safe, he’d promised that to Lu’ri and the elders back on her home world. Instead, the first thing he had done was nearly get her killed.

How could he be so reckless with a child? He knew that she was a very unusual little girl. But a child nonetheless. Suddenly he found it difficult to look anyone in the eye.

"We’re going to be here awhile," Mencari said meekly.

"But she's going to make it?" Toriko asked.

How should he respond? Despite the great technologies available on the station, that didn't mean they knew everything about the physiology of all species. Even armed with predictive computer models and brilliant minds, the doctor had not been willing to guess at Allia's odds. It was a very bad case of severe radiation poisoning, rooted in an alien biology, he’d said.

But there were always odds. Which meant there was hope. As a leader, Mencari had to capitalize on that.

"Yes, Toriko. But it will take time," he said.

There, short and simple. Any further details would only mire the situation, Mencari thought.

* * * * *

"Thank you, Eyani," he said. "I appreciate you picking up the costs."

"You and your crew have already provided so much information, I have to protect my best investments to date!" she said, trying to lighten the mood. Her tone grew more serious when she added, "Honestly, I’m glad I can help."

"What do we do now?" Toriko asked.

"Well," Eyani said matter of factly. "I actually have something I could use your help on."

"What's that?" Mencari said, expecting something needing attention on the Trading Post.

"There's a desert world called Nicia that I need updated information on," she explained with unabashed curiosity. "Data collected long ago suggests an abandoned colony with technology left behind. If possible, I’d like you to investigate a specific site and recover anything you may find there.”

Mencari wasn’t expecting a salvage operation.

“Um, how big are the things you’re looking to recover? We don’t really have the right equipment to move something big.”

Eyani shook her head. “If there is something there, it would be smaller. Hand-held size, potentially. It was difficult to make out, based on the scans and information provided.”

Something didn’t seem right to Mencari. Colonies were never just left behind. They cost too much to establish to be abandoned, unless there had been some dramatic turn of events or situation that forced the colony to flee the planet.

"Why was it abandoned?" Mencari asked. He was not interested in unnecessarily endangering his crew again.

"Something about long-term sustainability, millennia of terraforming,” Eyani said, waving it off. “Their government wasn't willing to cover the costs."

“So no giant sandworms will eat us if we go there?” Mencari half-joked.

She laughed. “Nothing like that, no.”

Allia needed time to recover, and Eyani needed help. Maybe they could repay her kindness, and even make some additional credits to help things along.

“We’ll do it—assuming the details of the mission are in our capabilities,” Mencari decided.

“But I’m staying here with Allia,” Seigie announced to the others.

“Excellent,” Eyani said, pleased. “Don’t worry about Allia. We’ll make sure she gets the best care while you’re gone. I’ll have Bob upload everything we know about Nicia to your ship.”

* * * * *

“We’ll be back soon,” Mencari said.

Seigie stood beside the small girl laying peacefully in the medical bed. “Just don’t let anyone else get hurt.”

“I won’t,” Mencari said.

Seigie sighed as Mencari, Naijen and Toriko headed out. Someone had to stay with the girl. Frustration filled her. Once again, she felt powerless to help those she cared about. It was all happening again, just like when she escaped from D’mar so long ago, watching her compatriots slowly die.

I won’t let this happen again.

Her determination flagged as she looked over the unconscious child. Even Ichini remained in an unusual deep sleep, curled tightly in a ball next to her on the bed.

The lines of Seigie’s ancient face grew darker with worry. As her brow furrowed, small, glittering specs of crystal flaked off. It was not just worry; the sight of the sick girl was an uncomfortable reminder of the plague consuming her own body, little by little. The plague changing Seigie into crystal moved slowly across her body, much like the greenish cast taking over Allia and Ichini’s skin. Something had to be done soon.

I have to try.

She pulled a few green crystals from her satchel, charged and broke them over Allia. Still no effect. She winced as a prickling pain ran up her arm, just like before, when she’d had to use the blue and red crystals against the Renzr beast. She could feel a section of her skin grow cold, then tight as the cells crystallized. She breathed heavily, warding off the sensation. It went away, but the pain remained.

A hand gently touched her arm startling her. For a moment she thought it was the girl, but instead, a friendly nurse asked with compassion, “Are you okay?”

Not wanting to reveal her struggle or her growing fear, she nodded shallowly. “I’m . . . just concerned about the child.”

* * * * *

“Nacia’s just ahead,” Toriko said as the ship smoothly cleared the off ramp. “I can’t imagine how long this would have taken without the spaceway.”

Spark barked happily from his digital doggie bed nearby.

Naijen snorted in displeasure. Apparently it was still too long a trip for him, Mencari thought.

A dusty, amber sphere grew in the display before them. Pockets of emerald green sparsely dotted a massive dessert. Mencari called up the terrain maps received from Eyani. It looked like even more of the green sections had been swallowed up by the dessert since the last visit. The largest patch of green had a marker towards the far eastern section. That’s where Eyani wanted them to go.

A bang resonated across the hull, violently shaking the crew. Mencari’s harness, already weakened from earlier incidents, ripped through, tossing him off his seat. Reaching out, he braced against the first thing he could grab. Unfortunately it was an unwelcoming mass of muscle.

“Get your paws off,” Naijen barked. “You’re not my type.”

Mencari wasn’t sure how to respond, but quickly removed his hands. Toriko yelped as a second jarring flung them all to the floor.

“What’s going on?” Mencari yelled as Toriko scampered back to her seat, summoning a holographic control cube. In moments, multiple displays scrolled with images and various schematics.

“It’s something in the atmosphere,” she said panicked. “Extreme particle density. . .  The sensors didn’t see it until it was too late!” she cried.

Mencari saw her necklace flash. “What pattern?” she asked, looking over at Spark.

The ship jarred a third time, tossing them again. This time Mencari saw sections of the ship schematics go red, with a host of warning indicators. A sudden gravity threw them against the hull. The forward display showed the planet spinning wildly. But it was clear it was the ship that was spinning wildly.

“What’s going on!” Naijen yelled, confused, failing in his attempts to pry himself off the hull.

“Mini-T! Spark! Take control!” she yelled, necklace flashing. Mencari looked over seeing Spark snugly strapped into his robotic doggie bed. A ship schematic appeared before it. As his eyes disappeared into a digital visor, lines and strings of data quickly strobbed across.

Mini-Toriko appeared in a shower of light, with her own holographic display before her. One by one, the red sections started changing to yellow, and the many warnings started to disappear from the display.

The ship’s rotation slowed, and the gravity pinning them down weakened.

“Good boy!” Toriko cheered. “You’re doing it!”

“Oh, I’m fine, I don’t need praise,” Mini-Toriko said sarcastically.

The yellow segments began to turn green. Mencari felt his body sliding down, free of the immense pressure that so easily held him against the hull.

“Nearly there!” Mini-Toriko cried in joy.

Finally the green turned a nominal blue color.

“Good work,” Mencari said relieved. “But next time, advance warning of something like that would help,” Mencari said.

Toriko looked away embarrassed. “I know,” she said regretfully. “I’ll enhance the systems before the next trip. And better seat harnesses might be a good idea, too.”

Taking his seat, Mencari called up his own display projection. Pools of shimmering amber and green moved in waves, surrounded by great white sand dunes. He called up the information from Eyani, which overlaid a grid. An icon representing their destination appeared ahead. The ship groaned as the braking system engaged.

The ship hovered above an extensive sand-blown structure. There was no clear entrance. In fact, the dessert had claimed most of the vast complex.

“The dock should be just below us,” Toriko said.

Mencari’s display revealed smaller sections of metal protruding through the sand. He could also see many deep sand pits, most likely where entire subsurface sections of the structure had collapsed inward.

“We’ll see if the rest of Eyani’s information is correct,” Toriko said, disavowing further blame and calling up a new display. “Open says me!” she said, gesturing to the computer.

A plume of dust rose below, as a waterfall of sand fell away from massive doors that swung slowly open.

“Well, what do you know?” Toriko said, stunned.

Her smile quickly faded as the schematic map in front of her filled with numerous red warnings.

“Jammed?” she groaned. “The system is reporting there’s not enough power to push past an obstruction in the door tracks,” she explained.

Mencari cringed wondering if they’d have to go out there and fix the issue.

“Here,” she said, gesturing to summon her control cube. “Let me try something first.”

Her hands seemed to blur with speed. “Almost. . . ” she said, nibbling on her lip.

The warning signs suddenly disappeared, accompanied by a loud thump from the bay doors.

“Yata!” she cried happily.

The display showed the doors reaching the end of their track. But then, filled with new warnings, before suddenly going blank.

Toriko squeaked with surprise.

“What’s wrong?” Mencari asked hesitantly.

“The data stream from the station collapsed,” she said, trying to re-establish an uplink from the colony systems.

She looked on in disbelief as reality set in.

“I . . . I think that was the last of the reserve power in the station,” she said.

“I’m impressed it had any,” Mencari said.

“But everything down there is mechanized,” she said urgently. “Without power, it’s going to be a long slog through.”

“One thing at a time. Let’s get in there and see what our options are,” Mencari said.