Adrift (The Sirilians Book 1) (9 page)

Karo dreamed of a woman. He could make out a blurred outline of her blue skin and long white hair floating on the wind. She was laughing and twirling with her arms outstretched. He watched her and felt jovial, lighthearted.

He couldn’t see their surroundings, but it didn’t matter. His focus was entirely on her.

To his consternation, the dream began to fade. Her image blurred until only her laughter lingered in his ears. He tried to hold onto the sound, but it slipped away.

He came awake suddenly and sat upright, blinking hard to bring his surroundings into focus: gray walls, low lighting, large bed—he was definitely not onboard his ship. Memories of the previous day bombarded his mind and pushed the last vestiges of the woman aside. Reality was far harsher.

Karo threw his legs over the side of the bed and slowly stood. He felt weak, like he’d been asleep for longer than usual. He carefully made his way into the bathroom, made use of the facilities, and encountered Doctor Notani when he emerged.

“Good morning, Karincin!” she said brightly. “I brought you breakfast.”

“Morning doctor.” His voice sounded gravelly. He sat still while she checked the monitors he’d been outfitted with the previous day. He poked at the food she’d given him, but it didn’t look very appetizing. Maybe he could persuade them to bring the soup again?

It wasn’t long before she was done and left him  alone to eat, but outside the entrance to his room he heard another voice.

“How is he this morning, Notani?” It was Lukas.

“He’s doing just fine; he’s eating breakfast now.”

“Great. I’ll go in and see him.”

A second later the forcefield was lowered, and Lukas walked in carrying a steaming mug in one hand.

“Good morning, Karo,” he greeted, then walked over to where Karo sat at the table, looked at the grayish paste sitting uneaten in his bowl, and lowered his voice. “I thought they might give you something like that for breakfast, so I replicated this for you instead.”

With his free hand, Lukas reached into a pocket in his pants and pulled out a bundle. He unwrapped two round pieces of food that had a sweet smell.

“What are they?” Karo asked.

“They’re called donuts, and on Earth they come in every combination imaginable. These are plain glazed: my favorite.”

“Thank you.” Karo reached for the offerings and took a tentative bite. His eyes widened. “This is amazing!” he exclaimed.

“Shhh!” Lukas admonished, and quickly turned to see if any of the medical staff had overheard. Thankfully no one ran into the room. “Not so loud! I don’t want to get into trouble with the doc.”

“My apologies.”

“No problem. Mind if I sit down?” Lukas asked.

“Of course not.” Karo mumbled around another bite of the treat.

Lukas plunked down, crossed an ankle over his knee, and sipped at the beverage in his mug. “So, how’s your morning been?”

Karo was careful to swallow that time before speaking. “Fine. I slept very well.” He took the final bite of the sweet pastry and quickly grabbed the second. “Where did you say this is from?”

“My homeworld. A planet called Earth.”

“You’re not Arathian?” 

“Nope. Me, the donut, and this coffee all come from Earth. It’s a long way from here.” Karo had guessed as much. He watched Lukas sip the coffee and thought it interesting that he didn’t sound unhappy at all that he lived among another race.

“How long have you lived with the Arathians?”

Lukas thought for a moment. “I’ve been mated to Jayda and Deian for nearly six months now, but I was on Arathian vessels for several weeks before then.”

Karo was confused. “You’re mated to Deian
and
Jayda?”

“Yep.”

Lukas waited for Karo’s reaction. Maybe he expected censure, but Karo honestly didn’t care that the three aliens were in a relationship together. He knew that each race had different customs and standards, so it didn’t bother him at all that the three of them were mated.

“Congratulations. They both seem to have very admirable qualities.”

Lukas eased and smiled. “Yeah, they’re both wonderful. Are you mated?”

It was Karo’s turn to smile. “Much to my parent’s consternation, I am not. I decided to explore the far reaches of space rather than bond with a woman.”

“Well, it’s your choice to make,” Lukas said. “I never thought I’d get married until I found myself halfway across the galaxy.”

“Were you an explorer as well?”

Lukas laughed heartily. “No! Actually I was dragged through a wormhole against my will, the same as you, but under very different circumstances. I would have died in space if an Arathian ship hadn’t been there to save me. I was lucky; the Arathians are good people. I’m much more at home here than I ever was on Earth.”

They sat in companionable silence for a while, Lukas drinking his coffee, and Karo finishing his breakfast. It was the arrival of Doctor Notani that shattered the quiet.

“Excuse me sir, but I’d like a moment when you have a chance,” she said politely to Lukas from the doorway.

“Sure.” Lukas rose and left the room. Karo heard talking, but couldn’t make out the exact words.

Lukas was only gone a moment before he stepped back through the doorway and called to Karo. “Do you mind coming out here for a moment. Doc needs to ask you something.”

“Alright.”

Karo’s stomach dropped.
What’s wrong? Can she not repair my cellular damage?
His anxiety rose. Was she going to give him bad news?

Karo followed him out of the room and glanced at the guards that were still posted outside his door. They kept a watchful eye, but didn’t move to intercept him as he and Lukas joined the doctor at a large array of monitors. She had images from his scan pulled up, including his DNA sequence.

“Is everything alright?” Karo asked.

“I believe so. I’ve developed a treatment to counteract the damage the regeneration chamber has caused your cells.”

Karo breathed a sigh of relief, but she still had a look of concern on her face.

“The question I have is about your DNA. Our system found signs of protein scarring…” She trailed off and Karo looked at her quizzically. He wasn’t a biologist; she’d have to help him connect the dots.

It was Lukas who clarified: “She wants to know if you’re a clone, or have been genetically altered.”

Doctor Notani gave him a look of disbelief at his blunt question. She probably worried that Lukas had just insulted him, but Karo didn’t care. Genetic manipulation was a way of life for his people.

“I’m not a clone. My DNA underwent genetic alteration from the moment of fertilization. It’s a common practice for a large percentage of Sirilians.”

Lukas’s expression didn’t change, but Doctor Notani looked concerned. It caused Karo to ramble. “It’s all done by the Assembly of Eugenics in a very regulated and controlled environment. I am aware of the protein scarring, but have always been assured that it poses no threat to myself or others.”

“We don’t think you’re a threat Karo,” the doctor consoled. “It’s just that artificially manipulating the genome is something that Arathians have outlawed.”

“Oh.” That was all Karo could think to say.

“That’s not to say that your people weren’t justified in altering your DNA, it’s just that… there’s concern here that it has the capacity to be abused.”

Karo nodded. A dim image floated through Karo’s mind. He got the impression of a woman arguing with him about this same subject. There had been people on Siril that hadn’t agreed with genomic engineering either. The memory quickly receded.

“Does this change your ability or resolution to help me?”

“Not at all!” Doctor Notani quickly denied. “I hope that our concern doesn’t offend you. I just felt like I needed to ask you about it.”

“I understand.”

“Now that that’s settled, how goes the search for other Sirilians?” Lukas asked to change the topic.

The doctor sighed. “I had our Ambassador to the Galactic Alliance ask all of our allies for help, but the ones that have responded say that they don’t have a genetic match in their system. The Ambassador promised to keep trying, but there are big issues before the Alliance right now, and he has to tread lightly.”

Karo was disappointed, but knew that it really didn’t matter whether they found his people right now or not. His ship was still a disaster. There was no way he was leaving this system anytime soon.

“Lukas, have you heard from the security crew regarding my ship?”

“Yes, they reported that they’ve been able to secure it. There’s still a couple of systems that refuse to power down, but the repair teams are already working on it. I don’t have a completion time frame yet.”

“That’s alright, I’m just grateful that you’re willing to repair the damage at all.”

Lukas nodded in acknowledgment, and the doctor chimed in.

“Speaking of damage, let’s talk about the treatment I’ve planned out for you.” She continued to explain how she had developed an injection that would repair his cellular damage, but the terminology went over Karo’s head.

He
did
understand that she would give him injections three times a day. She gave him his first dosage right as Jayda entered the Medical Center.

“Good morning!” she greeted everyone brightly. “Karo, it’s good to see you out and about.”

He bowed. “Good morning Jayda.”

She stepped to Lukas and they exchanged a quick kiss. Karo felt a pang in his chest and looked away from the intimate gesture. He didn’t understand why seeing the couple should bother him, but both times he’d seen Jayda kiss Lukas or Deian, he’d had the same visceral reaction. He didn’t think it was Jayda herself causing it, but he had no idea what else it could be.

“I brought you something,” Jayda chimed. She opened a cylinder-shaped container and pulled out his wristunit. Karo’s mood immediately lightened.

“Thank you!” he exclaimed.

“You’re welcome. The security team just released it, so I figured I’d pop into their lab and grab it before coming to see you.”

“I greatly appreciate the gesture.” Karo slipped the condensed version of his ship’s computer onto his wrist, and felt more like himself. The past twelve hours had been the first time he’d been without it since leaving on the Scout Mission.

“Did they find anything wrong with it?” he asked.

Jayda shook her head. “Nope, but I think they were checking to make sure it didn’t pose a threat to our ship more than anything else. Make sure you look it over yourself. If there’s something wrong with it, I can bring you the necessary instruments you need to do repairs.”

Karo nodded. He looked his wristunit over, but it seemed fine. “Does this mean I’m not a political prisoner any longer?” he asked.

Her expression turned to one of frustration. “No, I’m still working on that,” she replied sourly before forcing her tone to lighten. “I was thinking we could try to interface your wristunit with the mobile navigation unit I brought last night. Maybe we can find your system.”

Karo eagerly followed Jayda and Lukas back into his small room, where she had shelved the navigational disc the previous evening, after their multitudes of failures.

Lukas took a seat at the table to let Karo and Jayda work on connecting the devices. It took some finagling but eventually they were able to interface his wristunit with her tablet.

“I think we got it!” she exclaimed and set the disc in the middle of the floor. “Ready to give it a try?”

“Yes,” Karo eagerly answered.

She hit a command, and a three-dimensional projection of the galaxy sprang to life within the room. From where Karo stood, his head was almost in the dead center of the spiral, right where the supermassive black hole was located that held their entire galaxy together.

He ducked his head but the projection didn’t change. It was so large that the image ran into the three walls of his small room, and was even projected out into the main part of the Medical Center. Karo heard several gasps and confused voices from outside the room.

“Sorry,” Jayda called loudly then smiled guiltily at him and Lukas. She manipulated the image, and soon it had shrunk until the entire projection was inside his room.

“That’s better. Now let’s see if this works.” She nodded to Karo, and he initiated the link from his wristunit. Data about the Siril system popped onto Jayda’s screen, and he watched as she began a comparison.

“Cross your fingers,” she said absently.

Karo didn’t understand what she meant, but he was already holding his breath in anticipation. It took several agonizingly slow moments before the results showed on her device.

The two navigational charts only had a ten percent match.

“What does that mean?” Karo asked.

Jayda tapped her tablet to scroll through the results. “I’m not sure… give me a second.” Her hands moved too swiftly for Karo to follow what she was doing, so he watched her face instead. Her brows were knit in concentration, and she held her bottom lip between her teeth absentmindedly.