Enemy Games (33 page)

“Save us,” the queen sang at her.

“I’m not sure I want to!” Jay shouted, her fists clenched. “Had that cut been one millimeter deeper, you’d have spilled my intestinal contents. How are your nest chambers at healing peritonitis?”

She glanced at her intact belly.

If the Chekydran had healed such a horrendous wound on her, what had they done for Damen’s wound?

Jayleia spun. He’d been following too close, and she bumped him and stumbled.

Damen caught her to his chest.

The cut on his face was a thin white scar. His eye had fused shut and the crooked, jagged scar marred even the eyelid.

Hand shaking, she touched his scarred forehead, not certain she could trust her senses regarding what was real anymore.

The skin beneath her fingertips remained slack.

Paralyzed.

She frowned and met Damen’s gaze.

“I only know you’re touching me,” he said. “I cannot feel it. Not there.”

Hot tears abruptly flooded her eyes, heating her face.

“What is going on?” she whispered. “And why?”

He met her watery gaze, the gray of his good eye darkening. “It’s clear they’re in trouble. What isn’t clear is why they seem to believe we can help.”

T
HE queen chirped. It resolved in Jay’s head as, “Called.”

Scrubbing her face dry, Jay glanced at the creature who had tipped her head to look skyward.

A noise she’d never expected to hear rent the atmosphere. “A ship? Landing?”

“The Chekydran-ki have ships. They towed us in,” Damen said.

She shot a look at the unconcerned queen and tried to shake off the thunder of her pulse. “Would she know if it was another one of the scouts that attacked us?”

He blinked. His gaze turned inward and crinkles appeared at the corner of his eye. “It isn’t.”

“Called,” the queen said again.

“Called?” Jayleia echoed.

Damen smiled. “You understood that?”

The realization that she had indeed understood jolted her. “How did I? Unless . . .”

He lifted his eyebrow. “Unless?”

“The infection. Chekydran favor nanotech delivery mechanisms for altering humanoids to their purposes. At least, our research to date leads us to that conclusion. We have seen immune responses that produced symptoms at the time of initial infection, if you can talk about the introduction of nanotech in terms of infection.”

“The illness made it so we can understand the Chekydran?” Damen asked.

She shrugged as the rumble of ship entering atmosphere grew louder. “Until I can get into a lab for tests, it’s the only theory I have. My question is why did they use you to infect me? Why couldn’t they introduce the nanopak directly?”

“They tried, but you were already in a healing trance and it wouldn’t take.” Damen looked skyward, then at the queen again. “The ship’s getting closer. It’s not a Claugh vessel. The pitch is wrong.”

Jayleia peered into the blue-and-gray-banded clouds as the shrill of atmospheric engines increased. The craft broke through the haze. Her heart leaped as recognition hit.

She broke free of Damen’s grasp and started running, following the arc of the ship.

“It’s the
Sen Ekir
!” she shouted.

“What? It can’t . . .”

She slowed her pace to conserve energy when it became apparent she’d have a long way to go.

Damen drew even with her, matching his pace to hers.

Should she wonder how they had the stamina for a several kilometer jog so shortly after their respective life-threatening injuries? Shouldn’t they have needed recovery time? Time to rebuild strength and endurance?

A wave of familiar dizziness hit. Every question in her head evaporated under a deluge of alarm. She skidded to a halt.

Teleport distortion.

“No!” she shouted. “What the Hells . . .”

Everything vanished.

She found herself staring at the wall of the
Sen Ekir
’s cargo bay.

“. . . are you doing?” she finished yelling.

A quick glance to her left assured her Damen had been brought aboard as well.

She spun.

Dr. Idylle and her cousin, Raj, rushed them. The lines of pain in her cousin’s face took her breath.

He grabbed her and hugged her hard.

Dr. Idylle gripped her shoulder as if waiting for her cousin to release her so he could embrace her in turn.

“Jay,” Raj grated. “Thank the Gods. How the Hells did you get this far out?”

“We were attacked. Damn it, Raj, the biomechs hit Swovjiti.”

“I know.”

His tone crushed her heart. “Tell me.”

“Lania. Her daughter. Uncle Torbuhhal, his son Ochet,” her cousin answered, pulling away to meet her gaze. The lines in his face deepened. “Dead. Too many injuries to count, but everyone else will live.”

“Mother and Bellin?” she rasped, barely able to breathe.

“Missing,” he choked. “They vanished after you left the planet.”

Loss knifed through the center of her chest. She held her breath, waiting for the hurt to ease. “Vanished,” he’d said, not dead. Had her mother taken advantage of the battle to slip the agents tailing her?

She should have known this would happen. Damn it. She should have foreseen it. Some warrior.

“Twelve Gods, Sindrivik,” Raj said, staring at the jagged scar on Damen’s face. “Medical. Both of you.”

Jayleia gasped at the medical reminder and shoved her cousin away. “We’ve been modified. We could be infectious!”

“Not according to the readings you’ve been sending,” Dr. Idylle replied.

Jayleia’s brain stumbled. She traded a confused look with Damen. “Readings?”

Frowning, Damen shook his head. “We haven’t been sending . . .”

“I’ve lost more family members than I can stand in the past few days,” Raj retorted. “Medical. Now.”

“But we haven’t been sending you data!” Jayleia countered, her fists clenched. “Don’t you understand? You were tricked!”

Damen started, but didn’t contradict her.

Raj glanced at their boss.

Dr. Idylle blinked. “Let’s take this in order of precedence. Deceived or not, we’re here. Our scans indicated pockets of abundant wildlife, no settlements, and a marginal population of larger-than-humanoid inhabitants.”

“Yes,” Damen said.

Jay tossed him a look. Had he meant to forgo mentioning the Chekydran-ki?

“Jayleia, you’re my xenobiologist and the most conscientious scientist among us. I trust your judgment,” Linnaeus Idylle said. “Are we in immediate danger?”

Dr. Idylle’s appraisal hit her broadside.
The most conscientious scientist among them.
Was she really? Did it matter? It hadn’t helped save the people of Swovjiti.

She rubbed her forehead.

“You are in no danger from the inhabitants,” she replied, then frowned. How could she say that with such assurance? Given that the Chekydran were inside her head in a fashion she didn’t understand, could she be sure she’d been the one to say it?

“Then I concur with Dr. Faraheed. Medical,” Dr. Idylle said, gesturing them out of cargo. “We’ll sort the rest once we’re assured you’re safe.”

“We may have a tactical situation, Dr. Idylle,” Damen said. “I’ll request a line to Pietre from medical so I can walk him through calibrating his scanners.”

“Jayleia said you were attacked,” Dr. Idylle said. “By the Chekydran?”

“You were going to mention the Chekydran on this planet, right?” Raj asked as they filed down the corridor.

“They saved our lives,” Jayleia retorted.

“The Chekydran on this planet intercepted and destroyed the UMOPG scout ships that were attacking us. The Chekydran then brought us here for treatment,” Damen added. “The medical information you’ve received is intended as a gesture of good faith.”

Jayleia stared at him. How did he know that?

Damen scowled. Only one side of his forehead crinkled in response to the gesture.

“I hear the Chekydran-ki queen in my head,” he explained. “I’m translating.”

“Then we can trust nothing they say,” Dr. Idylle said.

Raj grunted as they entered the tiny medical bay. “On the table, Sindrivik. I have your genetic print on file from last year. I can grow a new eye for you, but that will take a little time. We’ll get it under way.”

“Brief me?” Jayleia queried, looking between Raj and Dr. Idylle.

“If the data we received from these Chekydran can be relied upon, you were infected via a nanotech delivery mechanism,” her boss said, folding his hands behind his back. “Initial symptoms were a short-lived immune response to the foreign matter.”

“Which survived in our systems long enough to deliver a payload,” she concluded. “Do you have a read on what that was?”

“We were hoping you could tell us. There’s more,” Dr. Idylle said. “You and Major Sindrivik represent two distinct immune profiles. You aren’t even the same species, yet the nanotech viral structures were specifically matched to each of you.”

Jayleia shook her head. “What are you saying? They knew we were coming and tailored the infection to each of us?”

Dr. Idylle nodded. “It sounds far-fetched, I know, but that is my impression. By wrapping the infectious agent coded to your immune system inside a protein sheath his body would ignore, the Chekydran were able to use Major Sindrivik as a go-between.”

“They had your genetic information, Jayleia. You and Major Sindrivik were targeted,” Raj said.

Staggered, Jayleia fumbled for a chair, her mind racing. How?

Damen rolled off of the diagnostic bed and crouched before her, his hands resting on her hips. “What are you thinking?”

“They lured us,” she said.

He shook his head. “How? Why?”

She wracked her brain, shuffling through her data and rearranging speculation. “Could the crystal . . .”

“Look at this,” Raj ordered.

She examined the image he’d brought up on the diagnostic grid.

“Neither of you is manifesting symptoms,” he said. “The diagnostic bed read Damen’s vital signs as normal.”

“We’re past the symptoms because the nanopaks broke down under the initial immune assault and released whatever agent the Chekydran-ki used to modify us,” Jay concluded. “We’re still infected, we’re just not reacting anymore, is that it?”

“Maybe.” Raj tossed her a sharp look. “Do you know for a fact that you’ve been successfully modified?”

“We know,” Damen replied.

“Tell me,” Raj demanded.

“It’s a translator,” Damen said. “Jayleia and I can understand the Chekydran-ki queen. She understands us.”

“Damen can also hear the Chekydran-ki queen telepathically,” Jayleia added.

“Now that is interesting,” Dr. Idylle said. “Is this a result, do you think, of your training with the telepaths in your ranks, Major?”

“It’s the best theory we have, sir,” Damen replied. “May I trouble you for a line to Pietre?”

“Dr. Faraheed? Will you release your patient?” Dr. Idylle asked.

Raj waved. “I have no medical reason to confine either of them.”

“What is this image I’m looking at, Raj?” Jay asked, nodding at the diag screen as Damen connected to the cockpit via the intraship com and began a rapid-fire exchange with Pietre regarding long-range scanner config.

“Major Sindrivik’s brain,” Raj replied.

“Does the urge to dissect what you don’t understand run in the family?” Damen grumbled over his shoulder before turning back to the wall com.

Raj turned a speculative glance on her, one eyebrow arched.

Jayleia did her best to ignore him and the blush staining her cheeks. “What is it you wanted me to see?”

“This section here,” Raj said.

Dr. Idylle closed in behind them, looking between them. “Language centers in the Autken brain, correct?”

Raj nodded. “This is the scan I just took. I’m pulling up one taken last year after the assault on the Chekydran ship holding Ari and Admiral Seaghdh. Highlighting the language center. Executing overlay.”

Jayleia gasped.

“What?” Damen demanded, clicking off the intraship and crossing to stand beside her.

“The language center of your brain has been rewired, for lack of a better description,” Raj said. “That in itself is disturbing to those of us who learned that brain plasticity is a relative thing and that synaptic growth takes time. Upping the creepy factor is the fact that we’re seeing some kind of organism embedded in the tissues.”

Jayleia shuddered. “Organism?”

“Can you kill it?” Damen sounded as horrified as she felt.

“Not without killing you, too,” Raj said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It isn’t viral or bacterial or protozoan . . .”

“We assume this is the modification you’ve been subjected to,” Dr. Idylle said. “The question, now, is why.”