Serpents of the Night (The Darvel Exploratory Systems #5)

Chapter 39

“The queen matriarch’s will is done.”

Payeri’s parting words echoed through Lori’s mind, dragging her slowly from the endless black seas of oblivion. She’d been set up. Worst, Zathexa had clearly meant to not just separate her from Slengral, but to kill her. She’d nearly succeeded, too, with Payeri cleverly placed as her assassin. Even if Payeri’s role was suspected, no one would think to link her actions to the queen matriarch who imprisoned her cousin.

If Lori had the capability at that moment, she would have laughed. Instead, she groaned and rolled over. Every part of her ached. But she was alive. She did not understand how. Nor did she understand how it was that she was lying on what felt like a woven straw mat. Her fingers jerked in surprise and then stretched out, feeling the surface beneath her as her nails and fingertips scraped lightly over it. It was so different from the cushion made of cured skins that she had come accustomed to in the shinara. The woven, fibrous plant material brought to mind the durable bamboo that so often was used to make various goods intended for outdoor use in the shops that dominated the pleasure and art zones of the cities back on Earth.

Seshana didn’t have bamboo though, or really much in the way of plant life outside of the low growing plants that managed to survive in the desert and carefully grown in special caverns close to the surface by the Seshanamitesh.

So, where the hell was she?

She should be alarmed that she lacked the energy to open her eyes and yet she was too tired to even be scared as her mind drifted in a casual observation of her surroundings—or at least what little she could determine from her other senses. Her nostrils flared and she detected a smoky smell in the air of some sort of fragrant wood burning.

There was a rustle and something large slid inside the room with her, followed by another that sounded just as large and heavy.

“She is human, I believe. But she is the strangest human I have ever seen,” a masculine voice hissed in intergalactic common.

Wherever she was, there had to be a human or someone from one of the colonies that taught the language to the Seshanamitesh holding her captive since she didn’t hear the muffled overlaying of speech that was common with translator implants. She was certain that was what she was dealing with. The slide of their long tails over the floor was unmistakable.

“Do you think it is natural? Perhaps she has merely adorned herself like our females are inclined to do?” another queried curiously.

The first scoffed in his throat in the strange half hum sound particular of the species. “If so, why just make herself all green? Perhaps she will tell us. She is awake, listening. It is why I asked you to speak their tongue with me before we entered. I hoped that waking and hearing something familiar would reassure her. What do you think, human? Has it worked?”

With considerable effort, Lori’s eyes slitted open briefly before snapping closed with a pained moan as sunlight stabbed them. Fighting back the nausea that threatened to rise, she licked her painfully cracked lips.

“W...where... am I?” she croaked and winced inwardly at the ruined sound of her voice.

She sounded as if she had been brought back from the dead. Perhaps she had. She didn’t know how she could have possibly survived the killing heat of the desert. The painful sunburn on her face and the places exposed from her torn TRS and clothing that tightened her skin told her all that she needed to know about how long she had been lying unprotected without Nashee’s ointment to save her.

Something massive shifted toward her, and she recoiled instinctively, curling into herself defensively before a soft, soothing hum filled the air. Fear clawed at her insides. She was lying there completely vulnerable in front of unknown Seshanamitesh without her mates there to protect her. And yet, with the strange song, she felt her muscles slowly unknotting in reaction.

“Do not be afraid,” the second voice whispered as the first male continued to lightly sing. “You were found by my hunters as they tracked a herd of gashthans that had descended from the mountain. You were laying on the flowering sands a short distance from the herd.” He shifted again as he settled beside her pallet. He sighed when she couldn’t help cringing. “It pleases me that you are not dead. Yuneril was afraid that he had not rescued you on time. His mate would never have forgiven him,” he added with a hint of wry amusement in his voice. “As for where you are at, you are among the Vehal in the Zir Mountains.”

She mumbled in confusion as a heavy fog began to descend once more over her mind. She didn’t understand. How had she gotten back to the mountains? Had she become that confused in the dunes? And where exactly were the Zir Mountains within the chain of mountains that she had seen? A tiny whimper escaped her, and the male murmured a gentle hushing sound.

“Do not strain yourself, human. There will be plenty of time for questions when you are feeling better. Rest for now. Yuneril has brought a fat dantha here to make a nourishing broth for you to drink when you are ready. Take your time.”

With that he withdrew, and she relaxed further as she drifted back into the darkness once again.

When Lori woke again, it was with a clearer mind though a headache still drove spikes into her skull. It was not, however, enough to keep her from slowly opening her eyes and observing her surroundings. The light spilling through the windows still stung her eyes, but she stared at the simple wooden frames in surprise. Windows...wood? Curtains? The woven material shifted lightly with the breeze, and she realized quickly that it was a shutter style window, and the shutters were left open to allow in sunlight and what little breeze there seemed to be. She hadn’t even realized that Seshana got breezes. Even during the wet season, the air had seemed impossibly hot when it wasn’t raining as it settled over the sand in a haze.

Hell, where did the wood come from? Her eyes teared up further because she never thought she would see anything made of wood again since arriving on Seshana... and the entire house appeared to be made of wood. The color was a little off, possessing a violet undertone to the reddish surface but it was recognizably familiar enough that she couldn’t believe it.

She hastily blinked, her head turning to the door as a beaded curtain clacked softly as it was pushed out of the way. The hand that moved the curtain aside was slender, elegant despite its roughness, and attached to a very human woman who pushed her way through with a full basket balanced against her hip. The woman’s head turned toward her, and she came to a complete stop, her brown eyes widening like a startled deer. With her deeply tanned complexion, brunette hair, and large brown eyes, she was a study in hues of brown except for her deep pink lips that parted in shock.

“You’re awake.”

Lori swallowed and nodded. “Water?” she rasped hopefully.

The other woman nodded quickly as she set down her basket and hurried over to a table where she poured some liquid from a capped stone jug sitting there. The cup she brought over was also made of stone and cool to the touch as Lori gratefully accepted it. She took a large gulp and immediately coughed as the cool water rushed down her throat and her stomach clenched in a hard spasm.

“Easy, don’t drink too fast.” The reprimand was offered gently as she crouched at Lori’s side but with a hint of command from someone who was accustomed to giving orders. Her hand rubbed in firm circles against Lori’s back. “You will make yourself sick otherwise.”

Had she been someone in a command position in one of the colonies? Lori didn’t recognize her so she might not have been from Raza but there were several colonies that had been set up over Seshana to compete with each other by Darvel Corporation.

Lori took a slower, tentative sip. It was difficult not to gulp when she was so dehydrated, but she was glad for the restraint when the knot in her stomach gradually eased as she slowly drank the water.

“Good. You need to keep up your strength and take care of your little one growing inside you. It’s really a miracle that he survived.” The woman bent down and looked into her eyes before pressing her fingertips against Lori’s pulse at her wrist. “I am Medic Sara Thomas. I was previously the head medic stationed at colony Alpha but we are pretty informal here in Zirnara, so please just call me Sara.”

A medic. That made sense.

“Lori Straford, colony Raza,” Lori replied with a grimace at the pain lancing through her throat. How did the little bit of water suddenly make her feel worse?

The medic gave her a sympathetic look. “Hurts, huh? It will get better. Your body is going to need time to recover.” She hesitated, a look of uncertainty crossing her face. She cleared her throat as she leaned back on her heels. “So, I suppose you know that you are carrying Seshanamitesh and not a human fetus?”

Lori nodded and a look of relief crossed Sara’s face. “Oh, thank Shangla. You wouldn’t believe how many women mate with the males, and it doesn’t even occur to them that they are going to give birth to something with tails and wings. Although Seshanamitesh-human offspring tend to possess more humanoid faces, there is no getting around that the Seshanamitesh genes tend to be more dominant. They actually have far more genetic information in their DNA than we do in ours when it comes right down to it.”

Lori’s eyes widened in surprise. “You actually have hybrid offspring here?”

The medic laughed, the corners of her eyes crinkling in amusement. “Oh, definitely, but then Colony Alpha has a much longer ‘relationship,’ for lack of a better word, with the Vehal—the mountainous Seshanamitesh.”

“How—?”

Sara smile shifted to one of sympathetic understanding. “You are newer here, I take it, and probably one of the grunts if I am not mistaken.” Lori grimaced but the doctor quickly waved a hand. “I don’t mean that in a bad way. You are just obviously not military, so I assumed that you are a miner.” Her head tipped as she regarded Lori speculatively. “But not a non-gratas, so how did a citizen get stuck being a miner on this rock?”

“Bait and switch, basically,” Lori muttered. “They promised me my dream job at a resort planet without telling me that the atmosphere here would make it so that I could never leave this planet.”

“Ah.” Sara nodded and stood. “You may be surprised to learn that it is not an unusual tactic for the Corp, and the terms usually extend out longer and longer as they reassign people so that they can fill in wherever they are needed most—because naturally, your travel expenses have to be reimbursed back to the company. And they always need more people than they have on hand when they decided to expand and add more colonies since Earth isn’t going to just give up its own laborers.” Her lips twisted in a grim smile. “Shockingly, this isn’t exactly a place where people want to go, and since non-gratas can’t be reassigned once they are sent here, the commanding units who are in charge of their work tickets seldom want to send their workers here. But you know how it is.”

Lori bit her lip. “That all went over my head, actually. I don’t really know anything about upper-level management or even how corporations like Darvel are run. I am from the pleasure arts social strata. This was my first assignment with Darvel.”

“Oh dear, you are green. Not only that, but for this to be your first assignment should be downright criminal. What was Darvel even thinking assigning a pleasure arts woman to mine?” she shook her head in disbelief before leveling Lori with a sympathetic look. “How long have you been on Seshana?”

“A little over a year.”

The medic sighed. “Just a baby.” She slapped her hands against her thighs and regarded Lori soberly. “Okay, I will try to break it down for you.” She held up a closed fist. “On the first level you have Darvel Exploratory Corporation itself and those who run the functioning parts of the larger corporation. Below that you have various offices that control the particular duties of the corporation to keep things moving smoothly. You mentioned a resort planet. Well, that would be run by the same office as the pleasure cruises and other luxuries provided to citizens by Darvel. So, imagine this huge hive, each area broken down into smaller segments with specific duties who employee citizens for various positions within the corporation or on the colony planets,” she explained, her fingers going up and spreading wide. “Now, when it comes to the non-gratas, that is a different story.”

Lori frowned. “How so? I thought it was all the same.”

Sara shook her head and held up her other hand. “The non-gratas are property of Earth and are controlled by the Human Resource Center. Like the Corp, they also have various departments that oversee various duties in control of dispersing the non-gratas workforce whether on planet, or off planet. Naturally, to deal with the workload for off planet assignments, there are far more departments. At the head of each department is a unit commander. He or she has complete control over where their non-gratas are stationed, and corporations like Darvel have to bid for contracts to get non-gratas assigned to them. Naturally, the shorter term the contract is, the more it must be renewed, and the more money goes into the pocket of the unit commander due to them by commissions that they make for each renegotiation. As the Human Resource Center has to be informed of work conditions, such as the effect of the environment of Seshana on the human biology. This drives the prices up on negotiations for non-gratas as the unit commanders are more reluctant to issue work-tickets even with the raised prices.”

“So, Darvel is tricking people like me whom they can employ directly,” Lori whispered in horror.

Sara nodded grimly. “It is bullshit. Of course, many have shared the same fate regardless. Yuneril kidnapped me when I was investigating some of the plant life on the mountain. I get news broadcasts every now and then downloaded to my comm which keeps me updated as to what is going on at Colony Alpha as well as the broader things that filter through the intergalactic channels, so I’m not entirely disconnected. It turned out to be a good thing since so many of the medics were evacuated and too few chose to remain. And besides, I have my mate as well as the women in naras scattered over Zir mountain.” She grinned faintly. “I suspect that you would agree that the tradeoff isn’t too bad even if Darvel Corp are rat-bastards.”

Lori nodded. Even if she were able to leave, she wouldn’t. She would never willingly leave her mates. She licked her lips.

“You said you have a comm... may I use it?”

The medic’s friendly expressions shuttered. “Why would you wish to use my comm, Lori?”

Lori lifted her bare wrist in response, noticing for the first time that her TRS, gloves and even clothes had been removed. Someone—likely Sara—had changed her into a loose, clean gown woven of some sort of natural fiber. “Mine was taken when I was in the shinara.”

Sara shook head. “That’s unfortunate, but even if you had yours, you wouldn’t be allowed to use it.”

“What?” Lori stared at the other woman in shock. “But why? You just said...”

“I don’t make external comms from it,” Sara gently clarified. “It’s not allowed. Those of us who still have comms just make use of them to listen in on what we receive through them. I’m sorry, Lori, but I can’t allow you to use it.”

“But...” Lori protested.

“It is our law,” Sara stated firmly. She sighed and glanced back over at the table. “There is broth being kept warm for you. The solar charger on the warmer still has a few hours on it but don’t let it wait too long. I will check on you a bit later to see if you can handle something more substantial.”

Opening the curtain, Sara stepped out, leaving Lori staring after her. She still had so many questions and she needed to explain about her mates, but it seemed that the medic was not in any position to help her, and Lori had pushed a little too hard.

Her jaw hardened stubbornly. Well, she would just have to find someone who was. In the meantime, she would glean what information she could from the medic and learn what she could of her surroundings to see if there was anything she could utilize to signal for help. Even if she could get ahold of Raza colony, Eddie would help her get ahold of her males.

One way or the other, she was getting her family back.