Silent Dances (30 page)

Bru
ce shot Thorn a look that silenced him on the spot. "I can recognize

when the
ri
ght person
'
s been selected for the job."

Peter coughed theatrically at the sparring males as they pulled up beside the

infirmary'
s diagnostic bed. Dr
.
Li scooted around them
,
reaching for
equipment.

Lauren was already there,
setting up the scanner
.
When she saw Tesa
,

she paled
. "
Honey
,
you look
terrible
!
Are you okay?"

Tesa was signing, "
It's only a flesh wound
,
only a flesh wound
,"
over
and over
.
Meg wondered if she was deli
ri
ous.

147

SILENT DANCES 147 "Lau
re
n
,
set up for full body imaging
,"
Dr. Li
said. "I w
an
t a good look at those kidneys."

Bruce and Peter moved out of Szu-yi's way as she gently re
moved the ice

wrap from Tesa's face
.
The swelling around the Indian woman
'
s eyes

and nose looked even more shocking with Tesa
'
s light eyes squinting

through.

Szu-yi's face softened. "You really did take a beating, Tesa. You must feel

terri
ble."

Tesa shook her head,
not understanding what Dr. Li had said.

Szu-yi simply said, "
Never mind
.
We'll fix it
."
She patted Tesa
'
s knee
consolingly.

The doctor'
s sudden ch
an
ge reminded Meg of Szu
-
yi's gentle touch

while she'd examined her ears, and the doctor's g
ri
ef when she'd
re

alized she couldn
'
t save Meg's hea
ri
ng.

The doctor scissore
d Tesa
'
s pant leg away
,
uncove
ri
ng the bloodied,
dirty stab wound on Tesa's calf.

"
What a beauty
,"
Bruce said quietly.

Thorn'
s frayed ne
rv
es unraveled
. "
Dammit
,
Bruce
,
there's nothing
beautiful about it! She nearly got
killed
down there." Peter shot Thorn a warn
ing look, but Bruce only seemed amused
. "
My, a
re
n
'
t we
protective all of a sudden?"

Lauren'
s face clouded over as she sta
re
d at Thorn. "You'
re
both
ri
ght," Dr. Li said quietly. "Tesa could've gotten killed," she told Bruce
,
"

but,"
she turn
ed to Thorn,
"
she doesn
'
t need coddling
.
She needs
rest and medical ca
re
. That
'
s me, Lau
re
n
, an
d Meg. The
re
st of you
get out. Now."

"What is this?"
Bruce complained
. "
Suddenly only women a
re
capable
of nursing care
?
Sexism
re
ars its ugly head?"

"Uncle Bruce
,
we have to get her und
re
ssed," Lauren

warn
ed
.
She seemed in control of her feelings
,
but, Meg noted, she

avoided eye contact with Thorn
. "
I think Tesa would be more

comfortable with just
`
us girls."'

"Let me get these two hotheads out of here," Peter offere
d agreeably,

moving in between Bruce
an
d Thorn
, "
so I can
re
mind them about the
benefits of peaceful working relationships."

"Let's get her out of those clothes,"
the doctor said, once the door closed
behind the men. She held up a cutting tool. Tesa gestu
re
d for them to

stop
,
indicating her shapeless top.

For the first time since the batt
le
,
she looked upset. "Don't cut this," she
signed feebly
,
fumbling with lacings crusted

148

with dried marsh sludge an
d blood
.
Meg realized suddenly that what she

was wearing was made of feathers
,
ma
tt
ed now, and broken
.
Where
had she gotten it?

"
Weaver made it," Tesa explained.

"What'
s she saying
?"
Dr. Li asked
.
Lauren showed her the tr
an
slation
on her voder.

Tesa'
s eyes b
ri
mmed with tears. "It helps Sailor focus on
me.
. . it
honors Water Dancer
'
s spi
ri
t
..."
Overwhelmed, she began sobbing.

Lauren gently patt
ed the younger woman
'
s arm and stroked her ma
tt

ed hair. Meg was alarmed by Tesa
'
s breakdown, but Dr. Li was unpe
rt

urbed
. "
She's okay
.
Her body
'
s just realized all the excitement
'
s
over,
"
she said ma
tt
er
-
of-factly.

Moments later,
Tesa pulled herself together
. "
I'm sor
ry
, I don't know
why..."

Dr. Li nodded reassurance. "
Don't apologize
,
Tesa, it's just
chemistry.

Let's get you out of this shi
rt
."

"
Weaver
made
that?"
Meg asked, finge
ri
ng the garment. The young
woman nodded while awkwardly wiggling out of it.

"It must'
ve been beautiful once
,"
Lauren
re
marked, "but it's a wreck
now."

"They'
ve never done anything like this befo
re,"
Meg said.
"
Taller
helped design it," Tesa added, still sniffling. "Peter's mother was a

textile curator at that big Senegalese

museum,"
Meg
re
membered
. "
I bet he can do something with this
.

Take it to him, Lau
re
n
. This
represents something impo
rt
ant
.
We
need to document it. And
,
Lauren
...
make sure Bruce sees
it."

The technici
an
looked amused. "Sure thing, Meg."

Later,
as Meg and Szu-yi studied the readout of Tesa's body scan
,
Meg

told Szu-yi what they had had to promise Taller. "How
could
you?" The doctor was incredulous. "Tesa needs two days in the regen and time to re

st!"

Meg shook her head. "
She goes tonight. We wanted her to become one

of them
,
well, she has. I c
an
't go back on
my
word."

The doctor'
s thin lips d
re
w tight
. "
This is totally ir
re
gular. The
re
a
re
protocols about medical ca
re
. You're asking me to okay her
re
lease

when I don
'
t think she
'
s ready."

"
Release her on my say-so and register your own protest. You'll be

clear
, an
d
an
y consequences'll be on me."

149

SILENT DANCES 149 Szu-yi shot Meg
an an
g
ry
look. "You think that
'

s all I'm

worri
ed about
,
accountabili
ty?
I'm wor
ri
ed about
her
,
her infection
,
her pain
.
You think I dem
an
d things be done by the book so I c
an
cover my ass
?
I do things by the book because that
'
s the
smart
way to do it.
Protocols a
re
w
ritt
en by people who've found the best way, the
safest way, not necessarily the
easiest
way."
The doctor shut her mouth
with a sudden snap. It was the most Meg had ever heard her say on the

subject.

Scott
and I never did anything by the book
,
Meg
re
alized.
Szu-yi thinks
that if we had, Scott might still be alive.

Scott'
s ghost whispe
re
d irreve
re
ntly
,
You call that living?

Hours later
,
Tesa emerged from the
re
gen unit stiff
an
d so
re
. Her face
still had some swelling,
an
d the
re were dark
c
re
scents under her eyes.

The doctor had impl
an
ted her punctu
re
wounds with a powerful
an
tibiotic,
an
tiviral regen drug that would stimulate rapid healing
.
The
re
gen unit had
re
pai
re
d the worst of her org
an an
d bone damage, but
had not had the time to do much with the body bruising.

Tesa didn'
t ca
re
. The Ea
rt
h
-
normal gravi
ty
w
as
dep
re
ssing, the air
smelled c
an
ned
, an
d she w
as
feeling claustrophobic.

Except for a moment, Dr. Li
re
minded her too much of the doctors that

had t
re
ated her as a child
--
doctors who would never speak to her,

only to her pa
re
nts
.
She missed her avi
an
family.

"It's good you still have pain," Dr. Li said to Tesa. "Your aches will slow you down,
p
re
vent you
fr
om reinju
ri
ng yourself."

Tesa knew Dr. Li was an
g
ry
about her having to leave, so she showed

the doctor something she'd filmed on her voder. "That
'
s Sailor
,"
Tesa
explained
,
showing the doctor footage of "her
"
baby
. "
That
'
s why I
have to go back."

Dr. Li only nodded, still frowning.
The young wom
an
felt disappointed

that she didn
'
t warm to her blue
-
eyed, downy baby.

"I've seen them before
," the doctor said, her exp
re
ssion tight
. "At my
home in China, in Zhalong
.
But there, the Zhalong cr
an
es are only

shoulder high."

"Szu-yi grew up in a farming community near a famous crane nesting

ground," Meg explained. "In the late nineteen hundreds,
when cr
an
es
were end
an
gered
,
a captive b
re
eding facility was established there to
save them."

150

150 A.C. Crispin and Kathleen
O'
Malley
"Hand-raised cranes hatched at the facility were released into the surrounding wetlands," Szu-yi said. "And

the tame cranes began to fight the farmers for control of the marsh. The

farmers harvested reeds, grass, and fish and disturbed the nesting birds.

Wild birds would have abandoned their
nests, but
not the Zhalong cranes.

They fought the farmers-and trained their chicks to do the same. Now, there

are thousands of pairs at Zhalong. They nest in your yard and attack you if

you want to hang your wash. As a child I was terrified."

Her expression grew distant. "My father
wanted me
to overcome my fear, so

he
stole an egg
from a nearby nest. We hatched it,
raising the
chick like a pet. I loved that little thing. Then he grew up and joined the flock. A few years

later, he brought a mate to our yard. When I went out to see him, how mature

he'd become, how beautiful-he attacked me viciously, nearly blinding me. It

was
his
yard now
, not mine
. I was his enemy. So you see, there's great irony in my working here." She tried
to smile
, but a dark fear haunted her eyes. "Don't expect that baby to love you as long as you'll love him. When he

matures there'll be no place for you
in his
heart, only for his new family."

Tesa wanted to remind the doctor that the Grus were not the cranes of Earth,

but the doctor had planted a seed of fear. When Sailor matured could he still

love her the way she'd love him?
Why worry?
said her inner demon.
You

won't be here that long. You'll be back on Earth,
getting
fi
xed!

Tesa limped through Peter's door into a room rich with vivid colors splashed

across Senegalese blankets and rugs. The computer specialist sat cross-

legged on his bed, surrounded by Grus mesh bags packed with short, downy

feathers and skeins of colorful grass. Across his knees was the cloak Flies-

Too-Fast had given Lauren. He was comparing its weave with Tesa's shirt.

A great window dominated the room, and through it a semicircle of Trinity

reflected the
suns still on
her face. Tesa looked at it longingly and had to

force herself to bring her attention back to the people in the room.