Dremiks (47 page)

The room the three officers entered was an arboreal cathedral. Three of the walls were made of trees whose branches were skillfully molded and interlocked. The ceiling beams were thick branches bigger around than any man could span with his arms. As they moved through this wondrous space, the trees’ shading morphed to lighten or darken they area which they were in. A soft breeze stirred the scarlet leaves on the walls of branches, creating the illusion of flowing red silk moving around the room.

The queen sat on a marbled wooden bench. Maggie stood ten meters in front of her, her posture betraying none of her nervousness. Hill positioned himself slightly behind and to the right of her, with Guttmann on her other side. Dwax floated nearby, clicking to himself.

The queen began to speak, and Dwax shuddered the length of his frame.

“The queen asks if you know why you are here.”

Now we get to it
, thought O’Connell. She took a breath and counted to five before answering. Her gaze and stance she kept steady. “I know there are things the honored Dremikians cannot tell us. There are things we must learn to complete our mission. You know what we need to know.”

The queen’s speech alternated between guttural sounds and chirpy clicks. Dwax paused before translating again. He was shaking slightly; his floor tentacles gave him away.

“There is a difference between cannot and will not. I do not think this is a translation error. I think you know that the Dremikians hide knowledge from you. I also think you could find that out on your own. It is the other betrayal, the one you have not seen, that risks your mission.”

Hill couldn’t resist. He raised his head to stare at Dwax and Queen Khanaa. He took in Dwax’s agitation and the queen’s silver stare. The previously friendly atmosphere shifted into something darker and more sinister. His instincts warned that they were in a great deal of danger, but his intellect wasn’t sure the danger was from the Kigvans.

“What other betrayal does the queen speak of? Perhaps it is something orchestrated by her people or alliance? We, after all, knew nothing of your existence until three days ago.”

The captain winced.
Easy, O’Connell, don’t start a war before we learn what we need.

“The queen says that she has studied your people for many years and yet never met you. It is strange to her that you do not realize the great danger you are in, when she can see it clearly.”

“The opposition of the Dremikians against our colonization of Dremiks has been dealt with. Our honored allies have given us no further reason to distrust them. Now you wish for us to believe that they threaten us for some evil purpose. If you know of a threat to humans on Dremiks, tell me now. We have no time for your entangling alliances and political strife.”

Khanaa rose suddenly. Her escorts did not move to flank her, but seemed ready to at any moment. She spoke again; Dwax translated quickly. “You play games with me and squander my time. I invited you here in the interests of peace, but I see now that you have no idea what it is you risk. You will not pay the price you need to learn, now. You will have to pay the greater cost, later”

The Kigvan males stepped forward to the queen’s side. She waved her hand in an obvious gesture of dismissal. Dwax bowed his head in defeat. Hill and Guttmann turned to go. Maggie’s green eyes flashed. She turned so quickly her hair whipped over her shoulders. She grabbed the captain’s arm.

“Cover my six, sir.” Her whisper made no sense and gave the captain no time to react.

The trees that made up the walls and ceiling of the room stirred as if they sensed the emotion welling from the human woman standing in their midst. Khanaa had already turned her back; she was about to exit the room.

“Queen Khanaa!”

O’Connell’s parade-ground shout froze every human and Kigvan in the room. Even Dwax stopped trembling. A female that had been observing from the corner hissed something that could only have been a threat. Khanaa made a quelling gesture and turned around. She did not speak, just stared at Maggie.

“You speak of price. Already my people have spilled our own blood to help the Dremikians—
my
blood. I do not risk my ship’s safety or that of my crew lightly. I came here in peace to learn what I must. I will pay any price to safeguard my people. You spoke of price and commitment. I wonder if you will accept mine.” Maggie raised her right hand. The blade of a dagger glinted in the shifting light.

Captain Hill’s hand flashed to his waist. He cursed. The little bitch had snatched his knife when she’d grabbed his arm. She was going to get them all killed.

The Kigvan males jumped forward, forming a line between the queen and Maggie. For her part O’Connell didn’t even blink. She just held the dagger.

She waited.

Khanaa stepped in front of her men, nudging them aside with her broad shoulders. The humans in the room all noted the muscles that showed beneath her skin. Hill reached out and stopped Guttmann from stepping forward. Fifteen feet separated them from Maggie. He wasn’t sure what she was up to. He wasn’t sure any of them were leaving the room alive. He
was
sure that Maggie wasn’t done yet, and that she had the Queen’s attention.

Khanaa must have studied human interactions very closely. She knew how to call a bluff with style. In trilling, lilting, English, she said “I think you are not serious, human.”

Swede grunted as if physically punched with the knowledge that the Queen could speak their language. The captain beside him was too shocked to hide his dismay. To her credit, O’Connell merely shrugged. She extended her left arm. Her skin was so pale the blue of her veins seemed to glow.

“My blood, once again, for the information you possess regarding the threat to my crew and mission. Do you accept, Queen?”

Dwax was trembling again. He finally understood what O’Connell was doing. She terrified him; in the cold emptiness of her eyes she sealed his fate and that of his people.

“How do you know of blood oaths, human woman?” Khanaa didn’t bother with Dwax for interpretation. Now that the humans knew her ability to speak and understand them, she saw no need for subterfuge.

“The Queen of the Kigvans is not the only one to study her adversary before a meeting.”

The sound Khanaa made caused all three humans to cringe, but Dwax knew it for the equivalent of laughter. Her lids flicked over her eyes. Without eyelashes, the act of blinking made her look more like a shark than a humanoid creature. She extended her stubby arms, palms up and bowed from the waist, her head arched up so that she could keep her eyes on O’Connell.

“I accept your payment, human.”

“Shit,” hissed the captain seconds before Maggie laid the blade against her skin. Blood instantly flowed out of her arm. She raised her arm parallel with the floor, letting the steady flow stream downward and pool beside her bare feet. Whatever substance the floor was constructed of was porous enough to suck up the blood. The walls quivered.

The male Kigvan’s in the room keened in a gesture of respect. Khanaa stood straight and stared. O’Connell shook her head as if bothered by a fly. Her arm sank to her side. She swayed.

“Foolish human.” Khanaa issued a sharp command to the largest male beside her. He sprang upright and moved across the floor with surprising speed and grace. The other male Kigvans moved behind him. Dwax squeaked and flitted out of their way.

Hill reacted instinctively. He jumped forward, wrapped his arm around O’Connell’s waist, and pulled her backward. He caught sight of Guttmann moving to O’Connell’s other side, his dagger drawn. Maggie tensed and tried to turn out of his grasp. The captain’s hand splayed across her belly, pulling her tighter against him. With his other hand, he extracted the knife from her fingers.

Khanaa clicked her nails together and trilled a few notes to her retainers. They froze a foot away from the humans. She watched the human males tense and gesture with their weapons. The human female was dripping blood down her arm, onto her bare foot.

“If you do not let us aid you, she will die. Her blood is not clotting. It is the atmosphere here.”

“Assurances... first. Make her swear or it’s all for nothing.” O’Connell’s voice was weak. Her naturally pale skin took on a grayish pallor. Hill tightened his grip on her. He repressed the urge to snap at her for her own stupidity
. Later
, he thought,
when she’s not dying
from blood-loss
.

Captain Hill glanced from the queen to Dwax and back again. “I’ll treat her myself. Guttmann, go with these males to the lander and bring back the med kit. I’ll need the supplies in there. Dwax, stay here to translate.” Remembering their deception, Hill glanced down at O’Connell, whom he still had pulled tightly against his side. “If that is ok with you, ma’am?”

“Oh, perfectly.” She lowered her voice to a barely audible hiss. “Would you mind letting go of me?”

“I mind. Come sit on this bench and let me bind that arm.” He dragged her over to the bench and waited impatiently for Swede’s return. Some of his anger he worked out through pressing very hard on the wound. The three inch cut wasn’t very deep and wouldn’t have been dangerous on Earth. O’Connell yelped when he retrieved a syringe of coagulant and jabbed it, with much greater force than really necessary, in her bicep. She hissed slightly as the cold water touched the wound. Both sounds earned her severely repressive looks from her commanding officer.

“I didn’t know about the atmosphere.”

Hill tightened his hold on her wrist as he washed the wound again. “Maybe you should’ve thought of that before you sliced yourself open. Of all the idiotic ideas to enter your head—” He cut himself off and turned his concentration back to her arm. She flinched when he tried to wrap the bandage around the wound. The captain grunted in irritation and jerked her arm back into place. “Be still, and I’ll be done.”

Maggie, desperate to direct her captain’s anger at another target, glanced at the Kigvan Queen. Khanaa stood off in a corner quietly talking to Dwax. Her grey-silver eyes flitted across the room to rest on O’Connell and Hill. She did not acknowledge O’Connell’s stare in any way. Her conversation with the young Dremikian did not pause, but her eyes remained on the humans.

“I think she suspects I’m not in charge. She will test us again.”

“Your talent for idiocy is surpassed only by your grasp of the obvious.” Hill tied the bandage and cut off the excess cloth with his knife. He sheathed the blade with a click and rose. As he bowed low to offer O’Connell a hand and pull her to her feet, he whispered. “You are damn right she suspects, but we play this game out and see where it takes us.”

They crossed the room together, Maggie needed the seething captain’s support more than she would like to admit. He bowed to the queen before stepping back behind O’Connell.

“You are having wellness?”

“Yes, thank you, Majesty. You speak our language very well for someone who has never met humans until this day.”

Khanaa clicked her long toenails on the floor. She rolled her shoulders slightly. The scrollwork painting on her arms and collarbone shimmered in the light. She spoke to Dwax and waited while he translated.

“The queen says that she has problems putting her thoughts into the correct words, but that she understands you quite well. She has intercepted some of our communications traffic, it seems.”

Maggie narrowed her gaze. “More than some, I would say. I think the queen has been studying humans with all the natural curiosity of her people. I think Queen Khanaa has a blood debt to honor now.”

Khanaa trilled something that might have passed for a laugh. Her stunted arms swung freely at her sides for a moment before she folded them in front of her once more.

“You are a leading woman, I know this now.” The queen reached inside the side of her gown and pulled out three shining metal disks. “You are to have these. Read them, and come back in three days time.” She paused and then stepped to the side so she could stare directly at Captain Hill. “No more blood, I promise you.”

He looked into her silver eyes and could not decide what emotion they portrayed. Hill bowed from the waist before offering his arm to O’Connell. They exited the room together. Maggie shot a quick smile at Swede and jerked her head to the side.

“I think we are done here gentlemen. Let’s get back to the
Hudson
.”

They walked down the corridor, Guttmann and Hill slightly behind O’Connell. Dwax preceded them. No one said a word, but both Dwax and Swede could feel the increased tension between the captain and the commander. Once aboard the shuttle, Maggie moved naturally toward the pilot’s chair. Hill reached out and lightly grasped her wrist. He meant it to be an innocent touch, but she jumped as if burned.

“Easy.” He whispered. “I’m flying, Commander.”

O’Connell had forgotten. She looked down at her wrist. Hill’s fingers were still wrapped lightly around it. Her eyes flicked back upward to meet his. He stared back at her for a moment longer before releasing her and brushing past her to the pilot’s seat.

The captain ran through the pre-flight checklist and smoothly piloted the lander off of Kigva. He made a quick course correction once out of the atmosphere. Having established contact with the
Hudson
, he expertly guided the craft to a gentle landing within the hanger bay.

Dr. Ruger’s chief assistant met them in the hanger. He performed several quick scans and then fussed over O’Connell’s arm. She winced when he ripped the bandage off and aggressively scrubbed out the wound. Captain Hill stood looking down at her while the medic worked on her arm. She glanced at him, but quickly looked away. His expression was stony.

“How was dinner, sir?” The medic analyzed a ph scan of O’Connell’s blood before he let her leave.

“Surprisingly delicious.” His tone indicated that he felt just the opposite.

“Everything seems to be in order, sir. If any of you begin to feel differently, or suffer any adverse digestive effects from your meal, please see me immediately. Commander, I will need to check your arm tomorrow morning and apply a salve to keep it from scarring.”