Of Blood and Angels (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 3) (23 page)

Chapter 25

Katie

I woke and immediately sat up, glancing at
the clock.  I had been asleep for more than eight hours.  The ship was
rocketing back toward Rehnor and a message on my vid said that Senya was
stabilized in sickbay but in surgery.  I swung my feet over the side of the bed
and for a moment my own head swam.  I chastised myself for having been so
ineffective on board that I had done nothing in the rescue but sleep throughout
it. 

A vivid memory of my dreams came back to
me just then.  I saw angel men and Senya dead on a gurney, rising to greet
them, coming back to life. 

“I think I may be coming down with space
sickness,” I mumbled and checked my head for fever. 

Maybe Thad was wrong about the new
environmental control system.  Even though it didn’t cause muscle based space
sickness, something weird was definitely happening in my brain.  I took a
shower and ordered up some food and then dressing in a Rehnorian Guard
Captain’s uniform, I headed down to sickbay.

Thad was asleep on a sofa while Loman
stood pacing outside the door.  He glared at me as if this were all my fault. 

“We are going back to Mishnah,” he
declared, leaving no uncertainty about it.  “You will stay there until we deem
it otherwise.”

I nodded.  I considered protesting.  After
all, I did have my own job.  I was still, for the time being, an Allied
Spaceforce Captain.  I sat down on the sofa near Thad’s feet and dutifully, I
typed up and sent a message to Admiral Mattson explaining that my husband had
been recovered by our SdK security.  I told him I would need to extend my
maternity leave to care for my family for a while and I asked if he would
kindly notify the Discovery that I would not be coming back for at least
another three months.  Loman sat down in the chair next to me and together we
waited.

"So we did pretty good after
all," Berkan said, surprisingly upbeat as he came down the hall. 
"Only a minimum of squawks and the EMP performed flawlessly.  Well done,
Thad!"

Thad bolted upright on the sofa, kicking
me in the gut with his foot.  “What?  Sorry Katie.  Huh?”

“We did awesome, Thad,” Berkan repeated
and high fived him.

"Jolly good, Berk," Thad smirked
and rubbed his eyes.  “When’s breakfast?”

"Is there any word from in
there?"  Berkan nodded to the closed sickbay door.

"Not yet," Loman replied.

"Don’t worry, Katie,” Thad said,
punching me lightly in the arm.  “He’ll be fine.  I think I could go for a
sushi omelette this morning, hold the squid.”

"How do you know he’ll be fine?"
I asked.

"He always is,” Berkan replied. 
“Every so often he goes and gets himself almost killed and then the next thing
you know he's back and telling us all to fuck off again.  I don’t mind
squid."

"Really, Berk?” Thad yawned.  “You
would if you saw those squid dudes."

“You really think he’s going to be fine?”
I repeated anxiously.

“Yes, Madame,” Loman replied.  “Senya’s
got a few guardian angels looking out for him.”

“Actually, Dad, I could have sworn we were
the ones with the guardian angels.”  Berkan smiled and winked at me.

Chapter 26

Senya

There was something dripping upon his
chest.  It was wet, sticky and smelled a bit sour.  Something was grabbing his
chest hairs, wrapping its fingers around them, pulling them, attaching to them
with this sticky liquid which it dripped. 

Senya searched the mind of this creature. 
There wasn’t much there.  The creature was happy.  It enjoyed pulling his chest
hairs.  It liked propping itself up against his chest, drawing the warmth from
his own skin.

“Ma ma ma ma,” the creature said, dripping
yet more fluid upon him.  The creature turned its oversized head and became
happier still.  It wiggled i's small legs and bounced on its bottom.  Senya saw
through the creature's eyes.  “Ma ma ma ma,” the creature said again and let go
of Senya's chest hairs, pulling several along with him.  He held out his arms
and Senya saw his wife come closer and lift the baby away from him.  She kissed
the baby's face.  He could feel the kisses through the baby's skin.  The baby
was happy and laughed sweetly, grabbing her hair.

Now the baby emitted an explosion of
intestinal gasses and a moment later, he moved his bowels and expelled a great
quantity of liquid and feces.  He was no longer happy.  His buttocks were
covered in his own expulsion and it was unpleasant against his tender skin. 
The baby started to wail.

"Oh, Shika!" his wife said. 
"Siria?  Could you please come and change the baby’s diaper?"

Senya was surprised.  His wife spoke the
Noble Mishnese. 

"Of course, Madame."  The
Andorian took the baby and the accompanying odor departed the room. 

"Let me just clean you up a
bit," his wife said, dabbing at his chest with a cloth.  "Shika
drooled all over you.  He's cutting two top teeth.  It's really cute. 
Actually, he's just incredibly adorable and he does look just like you. 
Everyone says so.  I think so."  She leaned in and kissed his cheek. 

He breathed in her scent and felt the soft
fabric of her gown as she leaned against his body.  She was not wearing the
cottons and fleece she normally dressed in when not in uniform.  She was
wearing silk and brocade that rustled as she moved.  They must be in Mishnah,
he realized.  If the baby had upper teeth, he must be nine months old already. 
He had been asleep for a long time.

"I'm going to brush your hair a
little," his wife said, leaving his side for a moment. 

He wondered what had happened in the time
that he had been sleeping.  He tried to remember why he would have needed this
sleep.  Vague images flitted across his mind, rubbery mindless creatures, a
voice from the hot and cold darkness, angel men in silver light.

"Your grandfather, the King was here
when I came in this morning," his wife said, pulling a brush through his
hair now.  His hair must have been very long.  "He has been very nice to
us.  He loves to just sit and hold Shika and watch you.  I was a little nervous
around him at first but I'm used to him now.  I even kinda like him, sort
of."  She laughed and started pulling at the hair on the other side of his
head.  "I wouldn't mind going home though."  She leaned in close and
put her mouth on his ear.  "Senya, wake up.  I want to go home.  Come on,
baby.  We need to go home while we still can."

She pulled away and put the brush down on
the table next to the bed.

"Ok," she said, leaning in again
and touching her lips to his.  "Oh, dry."  Now she was spreading
something on his mouth, a lip balm that smelled like aloe. 
"Better?"  She kissed him again.  "Yes, thank you, Katie Anne. 
Much better."

"Oh, you're very welcome, my
darling," she replied to herself.  "Would you like me to massage your
feet for a bit?"  She moved down to the end of the bed and lifted the
sheet.  She placed her hands upon his left foot and massaged it, pressing into
the pressure points and rubbing between his toes though the sensation was faint
to him even when she pressed hard.  "Yesterday, Luci took me to that
gallery that's on the south end in that old building, you know?  I got to see
portraits of all your esteemed relatives.  There's a lovely portrait of you in
there too.  I couldn't believe all the people who were standing around to get
in while we were there.  I mean, the crowds were enormous.  I asked Luci if
Tuesdays were half price or what.  Nope.  Turns out they were standing around
to look at me.  That was totally creepy."  She started on his other foot. 
"Senya, I’ve gotta tell you, I really don't like so many people being
constantly focused on you, us.  I really just want to go home and be left
alone.  I know that's what you want too but you’ve gotta wake up first so we
can do that."  She covered up his feet again.  "Do you want to hear
some of your messages this morning?"  She was sitting again and he could
hear the sound of her fingers tapping keys on a tablet.  "First from
Berkan re: weekly status update ship build- tail number 002 - skinning has
begun.  Interior mech work has also commenced.  Tail number 003 - framing has
commenced.  Discussion regarding design changes to 004 and subsequent tabled
until HRH is able to contribute to the discussion.  Thank you for the update,
Lord Berkan.  Next message from Thad re: software issues on cerebral guide
wires.  Are you interested in hearing this?"

He wanted to say no.  He couldn’t speak
yet.  His throat was too dry and he couldn’t move his mouth.  He couldn’t move
anything.  He was just now starting to feel his extremities, the dull ache in
his chest and abdomen.  He tried to remember what happened to him and with the
awareness of his body, the memory of what was done to it came back.

"Hey, are you waking up?" his
wife says, running her hands along his chest.  "Your blood pressure just
jumped." 

Her hands were soft and warm and familiar
but he wanted to cringe at their touch.  He didn’t want to be touched by
anyone, anything ever again.  She drew away as if he had said this though he
knew he did not speak. 

The door opened and the room became
crowded now.  The temperature rose considerably and the odors were all a mix of
hospital scents and exhalations.  He recognized the doctors’ voices.  They were
from SdK Mishnah, the top physicians on the planet.  He hired them himself.

"Pardon me, Your Royal
Highness," one of them, perhaps his name was Kellen spoke. 

The doctor pulled at his eye lid.  There
was an intake of breath from a nurse, from his wife.  His eyes must have
changed again, filling with beta proteins, turning silver.  He could feel his
strength coming back and his hunger.  Someone pressed his hand.  He drew it
away.  He could move his hand now.

"Sir!" Kellen ordered him.
"Sir, you need to wake up now.  Listen to me!"

He wanted water.  His throat was too
parched, his tongue too dry to speak.  Water.  Water.  A nurse shrieked.

“I got it,” his wife said.  She moved
quickly, catching the water pitcher as it flew across the room.  “Get him a cup
and a straw.”  A straw was pressed against his tongue.  The water was cold
slipping down his throat.  His wife leaned into him, holding the cup.  She
smelled like lavender, the lavender soap that is used in the Palace.  She
stroked his hair.

“Don't touch me,” he thought.  She stopped
and moved away.

“Can you speak, Sir?”  It was Kellen
again.  He was feeling claustrophobic.  There were too many people in this room
crowding around him.

 “Kari-fa!” he gasped, his voice hoarse. 
“Leave me alone!”

“Do as he commands!” another voice
boomed.  It was Loman, his large, heavy presence disturbing the air, weighing
upon the polished floor.  “Out of here, all of you except Dr. Kellen.”  The
doctors and nurses filed out.  His wife and Kellen remained.  Loman stood at
the end of his bed.  “Senya, are you awake?”

“Ay yah,” he rasped.  “More water.”  The
straw was thrust in his mouth again.

“Well son, you've returned from the dead
yet again,” Loman chuckled. 

“Ay yah,” he agreed and then turned away
from all of them to sleep a normal, exhausted sleep.

The next time he awoke, he was feeling
much stronger and healthier.  His head felt clear without even a trace of a
migraine.  He realized immediately that the beta protein levels were normal
again.  The excessive cycle that had plagued him for years had finally ended. 
He whispered a quick prayer of thankfulness and then turned his attention to
the surroundings.  He was alone and from the silence of the infirmary and the
lack of heat against the room's windows, he judged it to be darkness still, a
few hours before dawn. 

He pushed himself upright, to a sitting
position, and removed the IV's and other attachments to his body.  He swung his
legs over the side of the bed and cautiously stood.  His left leg felt weak. 
He tested it and a pain shot through it, nearly toppling him.  He sat down
again on the side of the bed and with his hand, he examined the length of his
leg.  The muscles were sound, the bones were whole, the nerves and synapses all
intact.  This pain did not come from this time then.  This pain was a memory
from the future, something that he would cause himself. 

“Kari-fa,” he whispered to himself and
hoped this future time would be a long way off for this pain would surely
cripple him. 

He stood again and hobbled to the
bathroom, relieving himself and then showering to remove the months of being
bed ridden from his skin and hair.  He shaved the beard that was more than a
few days old and then returning to the bedroom, searched briefly through the
closets for some clothing.  There was only a robe there.  In his wardrobe room,
in his suite, there was clothing suitable only for wearing in Mishnah.  He
wanted his normal clothing, jeans, a t-shirt, running shoes, but there was
nothing but dress blues, black and whites with sashes, brocades, gold and silk,
satin embellishments.  He put on the robe and fumbled through the pockets,
searching for a cigarette.  Finding one, he put it in his mouth and lit it.  It
was a weak, filtered Mishnese cig and he recalled how months ago, he sent Susie
to purchase a case of Camels for him.  He wondered if she ever did. 

He took a long drag on the weak cig,
relishing it.  He was hungry too, he realized, and contemplated what he wanted
to eat.  He knew the answer in an instant and tested the sturdiness of his leg,
the strength of his shoulders and arms.  Satisfied that he could manage, he
listened to the hallway outside his room.  The infirmary was quiet, probably he
was the only patient but surely there would be security posted in several
locations.  He thought he could feel someone sitting outside the door. 

His best option would be the window.  It
was large enough and opened outward from a latch in the center.  It was raining
outside and cold, but he didn’t care.  He removed the robe again, climbed up on
the window ledge and greeted the wind, willing his molecules to rearrange, to
turn himself from man to beast and then he leapt into the sky in search of
blood.