Terminus (Fringe Worlds #1) (18 page)

At that moment, Erlen roared. Later, both Maker and Wayne would say it was the loudest noise they’d ever heard a living creature make. It was a sound of power, so full of rage and fury and so sonorous that it seemingly drowned out not just the crowd around the arena but everything in the Pit.

With Erlen’s cry, the world shifted back into normal speed, but Maker almost didn’t notice because the crowd had gone completely silent. Then, with a snarl, Erlen went on the attack, charging at the jwaedin; the spectators erupted into shouts once again.

Maker’s perspective shifted as – in a reversal of their roles just moments earlier – Wayne now had the job of supporting his commanding officer and urging him towards the arena door. Glancing back, Maker saw Erlen lunge at one of the jwaedin’s legs, claws raking across the larger animal’s calf. It screeched and went down to one knee, blood squirting from the injured limb.

He turned his attention forward and found that they were at the arena door again; Wayne was banging on it and shouting for someone to open up. To Maker’s surprise, there was an audible click and then the door swung open. Maker couldn’t make out anything in the darkened interior, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth as Wayne hustled him inside. It was then that he got a good look at their savior: Diviana.

She was still dressed like a stripper, but the look on her face said that she was all business.

“Thanks,” Wayne began. “We–”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Diviana replied, cutting him off as she shut the door. She started to say something else, but Maker couldn’t catch it. His eyes fluttered and he struggled mentally to stay conscious.

Glancing around, he saw that they were in some type of antechamber. There were several bodies stretched out on the floor, but Maker couldn’t tell if they were alive or dead.

A moment later, Maker found himself being shuffled along, with Diviana under one of his arms and Wayne under the other. He realized they were trying to get him out, but there was something they were forgetting…something important. It came to him almost immediately.

“No!” he shouted, pushing his companions away. “Erlen…” He staggered a few steps towards the arena door, and then started to collapse again before Diviana and Wayne caught him once more.

“We don’t have time…” he heard Diviana saying.

“I’m not leaving him!” Maker yelled, barely able to keep his eyes open.

“Alright, alright,” Wayne said, easing Maker down to a sitting position.

Maker battled to keep his eyes open as Wayne stepped swiftly over to the arena door. Wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, he was surprised to see it come away drenched in sweat.

Fever
, he thought. He was going downhill fast.

He was distracted from his own issues, however, when Wayne – at least he
assumed
it was Wayne; his vision was starting to blur – opened the arena door and something bounded inside a second later, heading straight for him. As it got closer, a familiar growl brought a smile to Maker’s face. He closed his eyes as Erlen licked his face a couple of times, then did the same thing to his injury.

“Ugh!” Diviana screamed. “You stupid animal!”

Maker thought he heard a sound similar to someone clapping their hands together once, but he was far too tired to open his eyes and figure out what had happened. He felt himself physically starting to topple over backwards, with Diviana still angrily venting about something as he lost consciousness.

Chapter 22

Maker came to with a start, waking from dreamless slumber to find himself in a field clinic – a tent outfitted with various types of medical equipment. It took him a second to realize that it was his squad’s mobile hospital, which meant that he was back at camp.

At the moment, he was lying in a hospital bed. His right shoulder felt oddly constricted, and when he reached to touch it he felt bandages, wrapping around from the right side of his chest up over his shoulder. Of course, his people had cleaned and dressed his wound, and the thought of his injury brought to mind his harrowing encounter with the jwaedin.

As Maker struggled to sit up, his head swam and a dull ache in his chest made him reach involuntarily towards his wound. It was at that moment that he realized that he wasn’t wearing a shirt. As he swung his feet to the floor, his leg bumped something and he looked down to see Erlen sleeping next to his bed.

“Move,” Maker said softly, nudging the Niotan with his foot; without waking, Erlen obliged by rolling towards the end of the bed. With the impediment removed, Maker was about to attempt to stand when the tent flap opened and Fierce entered.

“Easy, easy,” Fierce said, stepping over to Maker’s side. “You’re still weak.”

“Everyone’s weak compared to an Augman,” Maker countered, causing Fierce to laugh. “But I don’t have time to debate the subject. How long was I out for?”

“Just an hour or two,” Fierce said, then shouted over his shoulder, “He’s awake.”

As if on cue, Wayne, Snick, and Loyola entered the tent. They greeted him warmly and appeared genuinely happy to see that Maker was somewhat on the mend.

Wayne in particular looked relieved, and it showed when he spoke. “Glad to see you’re going to be okay, el-tee,” he said.

“Yeah, well, it takes more than a little pinprick to keep a Marine down,” Maker replied.

“I was sure you were good as dead,” Wayne replied. “You were feverish, unconscious, and non-responsive.”

“So what happened? How’d we get back here?”

“Once Erlen was back with us, Diviana and I started dragging you out of the chambers that connected to the arena. Just in time, too, because the jwaedin came through the door just a few seconds later.”

“The jwaedin?”

“Yeah. My guess is that it was coming after Erlen, who scratched it up pretty good,” Wayne said, glancing at the Niotan’s sleeping form. “Apparently I didn’t close the door completely after letting him in, and the jwaedin just had to lean on it and it opened up.”

“What happened next?”

“We ran,” Wayne answered. “As fast as we could with you slowing us down” – he winked, and Maker laughed – “but Diviana knew her way around. She took us through a couple of passageways that the jwaedin was too large to fit in. You could hear it screaming in frustration behind us.”

“Diviana – is she alright?”

“She’s fine – and as far as I know she’s resumed her cover as a stripper.”

“What was she doing down in that chamber in the first place?” Maker asked. He had meant it almost rhetorically, so he was slightly surprised when Wayne actually answered.

“She said she saw us when we first came in,” he said. “She sweet-talked one of the animal trainers into letting her watch from their alcove. She told them she liked to be close to the action.”

“So she was keeping an eye on us while we met with our contact.”

“Yes, and when things went haywire, she popped a gas pill, knocking out the trainers.”

Maker nodded, remembering the bodies he had seen in the room that connected to the arena. Apparently they’d been merely unconscious, not dead. “Then she opened the door and let us in,” he concluded. “By the way, how’d you end up on the floor of that arena anyway?”

Wayne cast his eyes down, clearly somewhat embarrassed. “The big guy, the human bodyguard. He just kicked the rail, knocking it loose, and shoved me through. I guess I had my guard down.”

“It’s alright,” Maker said, clapping the young man supportively on the shoulder. “We both should have been a little more on our toes.”

“Thanks,” Wayne said meekly.

“Wait, so it was a setup?” Loyola asked, speaking for the first time since entering.

“Apparently,” Maker concluded. “With me stung and slowing everyone down, I’m surprised they didn’t send someone in to finish us off.”

Wayne laughed. “Are you kidding? As far as anyone was concerned, there were at least two bloodthirsty monsters down there – Erlen and the jwaedin. Nobody in their right mind was going anywhere near those chambers – which were like a maze, if you want to know the truth – especially with the jwaedin still screaming after us.

“Anyway, Diviana said she’d been cozying up to the trainers for days, so she was aware of some little-known points of ingress and egress. She got us out unseen. Then we got you to the cart, I slapped some cryo-film on you, and then hightailed it here while Diviana went back to the Pit. Even then, I wasn’t sure you’d make it – Erlen either.”

“What??” Maker asked, clearly startled. He instinctively looked to where Erlen was still sleeping peacefully on the floor. “What do you mean?”

“When I first let him in the chamber,” Wayne explained, “he ran over and licked you. Not just your face, but your wound, too. Diviana freaked at that point – called him a stupid animal and smacked him on the nose.”

Maker thought back, remembering the clapping sound he’d heard just before he passed out.

“She started cursing at him, and would probably still be doing it if the jwaedin hadn’t come through the door as we were dragging you out of there and given her something else to think about.”

“So how does that lead to Erlen almost not making it?” Maker asked.

“A short time after we started moving through the chambers, he started slowing down and making these weird noises. I didn’t understand what the problem was, but Diviana knew right away.”

“He’d swallowed some of the poison when he licked the lieutenant’s wound,” Fierce interjected. Up until now he’d been silently checking the equipment around Maker’s bed, obviously trying to assess the condition of his patient.

“Yes,” Wayne agreed. “By the time we made it to the cart he was barely on his feet. On the way back, he twitched and convulsed a couple of times – I think he may even have bitten you once, by accident, through the cryo-film.”

Maker nodded, taking all this in.

“After you arrived, I had to triage – decide who to treat first – and you were the priority,” Fierce said, jumping in. “Fortunately, by the time I had you checked out, Erlen seemed to have recovered.”

“And the el-tee?” Snick asked. “What’s his condition?”

“That would violate the sacred rule of doctor-patient confidentiality,” Fierce replied. “Now, since I only let you all in so you could see that he’s okay, I need you guys to leave us alone so I can talk to the lieutenant.”

“It’s fine,” Maker said. “They can stay. I’ve always treated the people under my command as family, and it’s to their benefit to know whether or not I’m fit.”

“As long as you’re okay with it,” Fierce said, and then his shoulders slumped and a frown came over his face. “To be honest, I don’t know your condition. I mean, my equipment says you’re fine, but I’m not sure if it’s properly calibrated because I’m getting some weird readings.”

“Weird in what way?” Maker asked.

“For starters, there’s no sign of poison in your system,” Fierce said. “Not even a trace that there ever was any.”

“Maybe the deadliness of jwaedin’s venom has been over-exaggerated,” Snick suggested.

Fierce shook his head. “Unlikely. It may not cause immediate death, but their poison is invariably fatal to humans.”

“Maybe its poison glands were removed, surgically replaced with something else – something less than fatal,” Wayne suggested.

Fierce shrugged. “Anything’s possible, I guess, but I’m not getting an indication of any kind of toxins in his system.”

“Well, as long as I’ve got a clean bill of health,” Maker said, rising to his feet.

“Wait, where do you think you’re going?” Fierce asked, putting an objecting palm out towards Maker’s chest. “I haven’t released you yet.”

“I appreciate the concern, Doc, but I’m fine,” Maker insisted. “Besides, we’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

“What do you mean?” Loyola asked.

“Wayne and I basically walked into an ambush,” Maker replied. “That means our contact is probably in cahoots with the Vacra. We need to find out what he knows.”

“Even if that’s true, you’re in no shape to be going out,” Fierce insisted. “You need more time to recover. It’s only been a few hours since that thing stung you.”

“Exactly,” Maker stated with conviction. “They probably think I’m either dead or out of commission – Wayne, too. They won’t be expecting anything.”

“Then why not send Adames?” Fierce said.

“Send me where?” said a voice from the front of the tent. It was Adames; Maker had been so intent on his conversation with the Augman that he hadn’t even noticed the man come in. In fact, he hadn’t even given any thought to Adames since he’d awakened.

“Good to see you,” Adames said, walking over and shaking Maker’s hand with a smile.

“Good to be seen,” Maker replied.

“Sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up,” Adames went on, “but I’m on watch. Still, I heard the story of what happened. When I saw these three” – he pointed his thumb in the direction of Wayne, Snick, and Loyola – “slip inside the tent, I figured you were awake. I can only be away for a few minutes, but I wanted to check up on you. So, what’s up? Why are you guys batting my name around?”

“The lieutenant here had a hole punched in his chest a few hours ago,” Fierce blurted out, “but he still thinks he’s ready to take on the world.” The Augman then quickly gave the master sergeant a summary of their conversation up to that point.

“It makes sense,” Adames said. “You should stay here and let me go take care of it.”

“And I probably would except for one tiny detail,” Maker said. “You don’t know what these guys look like.”

“Well, one’s a man-sized bird with eye-worms all over its body,” Adames said. “It’ll be a stretch, but I can probably pick him out in a crowd.”

“And he’s the only Panoptes on the planet, right?” Maker said. “So the first one you see is clearly your guy, correct?”

Adames frowned, exchanging glances with Fierce, then the rest of their squad.

“You can provide renditions of his human companions,” Adames suggested. “Work with the graphic AI in the ship to fashion composite images.”

Maker shook his head. “That would take at least an hour, and we need to move
now
.”

“I see,” Adames muttered, biting his lip. “So it’ll just be you and Wayne?”

Maker shook his head in the negative. “No. Wayne’s had enough excitement for one day. It’ll just be me.”

“Now you’re really talking crazy,” Adames said. “No way you’re jumping straight out of a hospital bed and into something like this alone. I’m coming with you.”

“You can’t. I need you here to take over in case something actually does happen to me. We can’t leave the mission leaderless.”

Adames chewed on that for a moment, and then said, almost angrily, “Fine, but you’re not going by yourself. One of our people needs to go with you.”

“I volunteer,” Loyola said almost immediately.

Caught slightly by surprise, Maker hesitated for a moment, then answered. “Thanks, but if Adames insists on someone coming with me, I think I’ll take Snick.”

“Sir,” Loyola began, “if this is about me being a woman or my eyes–”

“That’s got nothing to do with it,” Maker almost snapped. “If you’ve been doing your usual, then you’ve been out in the desert all day. We’re going to need you fresh if you’re going to handle your duties tomorrow.”

“But sir–”

“That will be all, Sergeant,” Maker almost yelled, cutting her off. She gave him a hard look, then stalked from the tent. A moment later, Fierce – after giving Maker a withering glance – went after her.

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence, and then Snick excused himself to go get ready, and Wayne went with him.