Plague of Memory (20 page)

Garphawayn looked up, her wet face a dark pink color, her eyes bright with emotion. "You did this to me. Pray I do not find a blade before I am ripped apart." She threw back her head and screamed as her upper sternum flexed and one narrow aperture appeared, opened, and immediately closed again.

Squilyp staggered backward. "The child comes." He reached out to steady himself and nearly fell over.

"Stay out of the way, Omorr." ChoVa reached around and tested the opening. "She is ready. Jarn, aid me. I will hold her arms."

I went to crouch before Garphawayn, who hurled more of her incomprehensible words at me. The birthing aperture appeared again, wider this time, but closed before I could see any sign of the newborn.

ChoVa kept the female Omorr's three strong arms pinned from behind. "When it opens again, the infant will present its head. Ease it out to the gildrells and allow the child to do the rest. Do not put your fingers or hand in the birth canal; the contractions will break your bones."

I followed her instructions. The tiny head of the Omorr crowned, and I slipped a hand beneath it and guided it out of its mother's body. Its gildrells were half the size of an adult Omorr's, but they latched immediately onto the sides of the canal and pushed or pulled it open wider. The remainder of the child's body popped out into my waiting hands, and the next contraction was so strong that it severed the umbilical cord. The infant hissed rather than squalling, as Terran children did, but otherwise it was like any newborn: wrinkled, dripping wet, and very unhappy to have left the comfort of its mother's body.

"It is a male," I said as I saw its small, sheathed penis extrude for a few seconds. I wrapped him in a linen blanket and moved to hand him to his mother.

ChoVa did not release Garphawayn's arms to allow her to hold her newborn. "Give it to the sire," she said. "She delivers another."

A second infant? I went to Squilyp and placed his squirming, hissing son into his unresisting arms before hurrying back. The head of the secondborn had already crowned, and the infant wrenched itself from its mother's body without any help from me. It, too, was a male, and identical to the first.

"There." ChoVa released Garphawayn, who leaned back against her with an exhausted sigh. "Give her that child. Omorr, bring the other here so that his mother may look upon him."

Squilyp hopped over and crouched beside his mate, depositing the other twin male in her arms. The two small Omorr males were perfect miniatures of their father.

I smiled at ChoVa. "You are an excellent midwife."

"It was my specialty before I went to serve the Hanar," the Hsktskt said. "I have delivered Omorr slaves in the past, and I know how difficult and violent their labor can be."

Squilyp looked up, his gildrells stiff and straight. "Yes, I expect you would. What did you do with their offspring? Eat them, or sell them?"

"Neither." ChoVa straightened. "I am a physician, not a slaver. Hsktskt do not devour live fodder."

"Your guards did on Catopsa," the Omorr snarled back.

"Senior Healer," I said, feeling the immediate need to intervene, "this is not the time for such a discussion."

"Isn't it?" He didn't move his gaze from ChoVa. "Your young brother is on the ship. How would you feel if I kidnapped him and sold him to slavers? Or cooked him for my next meal interval?"

Rows of jagged, efficient teeth appeared. "I would not suggest you try either, Omorr."

"Fortunately I have no desire to. Your services are not needed or wanted, Hsktskt." Squilyp made a fierce gesture toward the exit. "Take your claws off my mate and leave here at once."

ChoVa blinked, and then eased Garphawayn over to me before she trudged out of the treatment room.

Donarea joined us to help with cleaning up Garphawayn and her sons. I remained silent as I used a scanner to check the female Omorr. "Her uterine cavity is clear, no signs of hemorrhaging. The afterbirth remains in one piece."

"She will eject it in an hour, after her body absorbs the nutrients and compacts it," Donarea explained.

The Senior Healer lifted his wife and his sons into his powerful arms. "Resident, push the table back over here. Cherijo, linens." His gildrells were entwining with Garphawayn's, but his dark eyes were still filled with inexplicable fury.

I helped the resident move the table back into its position, and retrieved linens to cover the female Omorr while the senior healer scanned both of his sons. "They appear to be perfectly healthy."

"Twin males." Garphawayn looked down at her sons. "My family will be pleased." She seemed less dazed now, and looked around her. "Where is Dr. ChoVa?"

"I sent the Hsktskt away," Squilyp said in a soothing tone. "Did she harm you?"

"She prevented me from harming everyone in here." The female Omorr sighed. "Forgive me, but the pain was more than I could bear. When I could not find you, my distress made me take leave of my senses. All I could think was how much I wished to make everyone I saw suffer what I was feeling. I think I might have injured the staff and myself and the children, if not for that Hsktskt."

I looked across the table at Squilyp. "I will go and find her."

"If you mean to have me thank that beast, or apologize to her, do not bother. You heard what she said—the only reason she knew how to cope with this was because she has delivered Omorr slaves." He sniffed. "Better you have the captain make her leave the ship before she decides to take my wife and children and sell them to the highest bidder."

"That will not be necessary, Omorr," ChoVa's voice said. I looked up and saw her at the observation panel looking in. "We may be, as you say, beasts, but we are civilized ones. We will leave voluntarily."

ChoVa walked away, and SubAkade TssVar looked in for a moment before doing the same. Reever stood at the panel long enough to meet my gaze and shake his head before following the Hsktskt out of Medical.

I left Squilyp with his mate and their sons, but by the time I reached the launch bay the Hsktskt had already departed the ship.

"They said nothing about returning," the launch supervisor told me. "Shall I contact the surface and inquire?"

I had no idea how serious this breach of protocol was, but ChoVa and her sire had every reason to feel offended. "It is best to ask the captain."

I did not want to return to Medical and listen to Squilyp again disparage the Hsktskt, or go back to our quarters and face Reever's unhappiness over the matter, so I decided to visit one of the simulator rooms. It would be good, as Darea had suggested, to work off some of this strange frustration I had been feeling.

I went to the closest unit and checked the panel. The simulator was not in use, but the program that had just been terminated was listed on the panel display as a sparring exercise. Perhaps the crew members using it would tell me how to initiate one suited to Terrans.

I entered through the door panel and saw Qonja and Hawk standing in the center of the yellow power grid. Both were stripped to the waist and covered with sweat. Two swords and several pieces of protective armor lay discarded to one side of the room.

"You are improving, but you must drop your guard to attack," Qonja was saying to Hawk. He put
his hand on the winged man's shoulder. "Do not hesitate. I will counter the move, but I will take care not to injure you."

"I don't care about myself." Hawk covered Qonja's hand with his. "I'm afraid I'll hurt you."

Qonja's expression softened. "I am stronger than you think,
evlanar."
He bent down and for a moment I thought he meant to put his mouth to Hawk's.

"No." Hawk turned his head. "We cannot, not here. It is not worth it."

"You are worth much." Qonja rested his hand against Hawk's neck. "What we cannot do is go on like this, never touching outside our quarters, always fearing someone will see. I honor you, you honor me."

Hawk's wings flared briefly before he stepped away and picked up a cloth to dry his chest. "Someone
will
see us, and report the matter to your ClanLeader, and then Tlore will force you to leave me." He drew in a sharp breath. "Secrecy is more important than displaying our honor."

"Secrecy imprisons us. It makes a mockery of what we feel." Qonja came up behind Hawk and stroked his hands over the other man's wings. "No one could make me leave you now,
evlanar."

As Hawk turned around into Qonja's embrace, I opened the door panel and slipped out into the corridor. I was confused, not by seeing the two men together, but by what they had said.

"No one knows that they are lovers."

I turned to see the large, talking feline standing
just behind me. "Alunthri." I suppressed a desire to step back. "I did not mean to intrude on them."

"You took pains not to do so." Its whiskers twitched. "I will not harm you. I cannot harm another being."

"Apart from Iisleg hunters, felines are the deadliest thing on my world." I glanced at the entry to the simulator. "Why does no one know about them?"

"Jorenians do not permit same-gender mates."

I had noticed that there were no men together on the ship, but I had thought that a matter of a modesty. Iisleg men who coupled with men were not treated any differently than those who coupled with women. Indeed, males from some of the more primitive iiskars believed that a man could only truly love another man, as women of the Iisleg were considered creatures without real souls and therefore unworthy of such affection. However, Reever had told me every species was different.

The feline's eyes narrowed. "Will you tell anyone about them?"

Qonja and Hawk's relationship violated some Jorenian custom, so they had chosen to conceal it from the rest of the crew. I would have to somehow ask my husband to explain it to me without exposing what I now knew of Qonja and Hawk's relationship. "No."

Alunthri bared its teeth. "You are as kind as she was." Before I could reply, it passed me and disappeared down the corridor.

I went to our quarters, where I found my husband sitting and reviewing data on the console. A server of tea sat ignored beside him, and I went to retrieve it.

"You do not have to wait on me," he said without looking at me as I reached for it.

"I am not waiting on you. I am keeping you from spilling this on the console." I took it to the cleansing unit. "The launch bay supervisor told me that the Hsktskt departed for the surface. Will they return?"

"Probably not."

So they
had
been offended by Squilyp's careless, angry remarks. "I must ask you something else." "Ask me anything." I thought about how to say it. "Why are there no

men with men on this ship?"

"There are men working with men all over this ship." He finally looked at me. "You mean as couples, as we are?" I nodded. "Most of the crew is Jorenian. They do not practice homosexuality."

I frowned. So what the talking feline had said was truth. "They do not? At all?"

"Their species mates for reproductive purposes, and for life." He switched off the console. "Their males cannot fertilize other males."

"I know that," I said, feeling the odd anger building inside me. "But surely they do not all have to produce children?"

"From what I have been told, breeding is a strong biological imperative with the Jorenians." He removed his tunic and tossed it over the back of his seat. "At some point during their maturity, their bodies make it so that they have no alternative but to Choose a partner and mate."

"They might decide to mate with someone physically incapable of bearing children," I pointed out. "How is that different than mating with one of the same gender?"

"Why are you asking me this?" He eyed me. "Have you involved yourself with another female?" "Involved?" I was involved with everyone on the ship. "How do you mean 'involved'?"

"While you were on Akkabarr, you were involved with Resa," he said. "And with Teulon as well."

Why was he looking at me like that? "Teulon was my general, and Resa was like my sister. I was deeply
involved
with them both. If not for Marel, I would still be
involved
with them."

"That I know." He gave me a small, cold smile. "Luckily we had a child I could use to blackmail you into becoming
involved
with me."

Ah, so he meant it as coupling. Now I understood why he was always making those strange, pointed remarks about Teulon. And now Resa. He was very possessive of my former self, and doubtless regarded my relationships outside our own as a threat. On Akkabarr the men would have found this very amusing, but they routinely shared their women with other men. To do otherwise was to be considered a poor friend or an impolite host.

"If you wish to know how I was with Teulon and Resa," I said, "all you need do is ask me. I hide nothing from you."

"Such as what you now know about Qonja and Hawk?" He walked past me. My husband could read my thoughts, it seemed,

any time he wished. "I was not hiding this from you. I was not volunteering my knowledge of it. That talking feline, Alunthri, warned me of the Jorenian taboo. I was attempting to practice what the protocol officer called discretion." I followed him into our sleeping chamber. "There is a difference."

He turned and seized my wrists in his, and continued the conversation inside my head.
There is no difference. You conceal things from me. You hold yourself apart from me. You treat Alunthri, the gentlest creature on the ship, as if it were a killer. Nothing is as it was. You cannot give me what I need.

Both of us were feeling far too much anger and frustration, and there was only one practical outlet for that.

J
cannot?
Rather than struggle, I pressed myself against him.
This body that you love so much, it has not changed. What I can make you feel when 1 touch you is no different.
I felt him stiffen and withdraw from the mind-bond between us, but I reached out through my thoughts to him. /
do not hold myself apart. I am yours, Husband. Your woman, your mate, your companion. Your pleasure. Enjoy me. I will enjoy you. I want that above all other things.