CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Zade
Zade stood there, holding the limp body of his mate.
A million thoughts pounded through his mind, all of them relating to panic.
All he could do was stand there, holding her as heat seeped through her clothing and into his hands.
She was growing hotter by the moment. Her skin was ashen and her vomit… well, that color meant one thing.
All the toxins had not been removed from her body. All this time, it had been there, waiting. But for what?
He stirred enough to lift her onto the reju.
Instantly, the bed assessed her and set off a myriad of red lights on her monitor.
Yes, I am aware he thought furiously to himself.
With deft hands, he attached ports to her veins and set the reju to administer several different medicines while it ran tests and scanned her body.
He ordered the cleaning bot to restore the floor to sterile conditions.
All the while, dread rose in him like a blast that had yet to hit him.
His hands remained steady, even as his mind reeled and his heart pounded.
Why now? What had he missed? How could he tell, with all this emotion clogging his process?
Zade had always been the one with the solutions.
It was why he had risen to head physician of the entire base ship.
It was why the health of the command class was entrusted to him.
Yet here he was, staring at his female, having never felt so alone in his life, let alone so helpless. He could not organize a single thought.
With all the ports and tubes and everything in place, Zade tapped his v-link and opened a communication with his father, the last Baylan to hold the position of high physician on the Raplan-B.
Ger Baru-Nok responded immediately, thank the stars. When his father was involved in research, he often removed his communicator for long periods of time.
“I am in need of council.” Zade ran a shaking hand through his hair. He explained the situation to Ger, who listened in silence, as a good physician did, even though Zade was certain he was rambling, repeating some details, forgetting others.
At the end, Zade heard Ger let out a long sigh. “You cannot save her,” his father said.
Zade’s entire being rejected that. A swell of grief crashed through him as he sank into the closest available seat.
“Unless…” Ger went on, “you separate yourself emotionally.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” he asked. “She is my mate. How would you react?”
“Exactly the same,” replied Ger. “Have you informed anyone of your mated status?”
“No.”
“There is your flaw,” his father said. “You are compromised. That is natural, as this female is yours, but you have hidden her away, like a great secret. Or perhaps, you think, a great weakness.”
Zade got up and began to pace. He kept one eye on Ash as she lay still and silent on the table. “I need a solution,” he growled. “Now.”
“It is right there, son.” Ger’s voice turned gentle.
“The best minds—which you trained—are there to help her. They are not emotionally invested in this female. They are, however, invested in you. Lean on them, ask them for help. You are accustomed to dispensing advice and help, but out of practice in receiving it.”
The advice rendered him somewhat numb and dazed.
The thought of allowing Yoli and Pruk in to examine or treat Ash made his hands curl into fists.
He did not doubt their skill or dedication, but the bond was so new, he despised the thought of another touching her.
Possessiveness was another normal element of the early biological bond.
The easiest way to torture a Baylan was to put anyone between them and their new mate.
“So I must…allow others to treat her.”
“If you wish to save her life,” Ger concluded. “Which you do.”
Ger was correct: Zade was compromised. Fatally.
He ended the connection knowing what he had to do.
He summoned Yoli and Pruk, aware that he owed them an explanation for his isolation these past few weeks.
The thought of sharing his mated status unnerved him.
Perhaps his father was correct in saying that he saw Ash as a weakness.
Logically, he knew having a mate would not damage his skills.
With gritted teeth, he listened to the entrance chime and admitted them.
Yoli’s brow was lowered into a frown that did not waver. “Zade, have we done something wrong? We would like to know why you dismissed us so suddenly. If it was our performance with—”
Pruk slanted a glance at Ash. “The human, patient 33-H,” he cut in. “Did we make an error with the leg?”
“It was nothing you did,” Zade said with a swipe of his hand. “The error was mine.”
Yoli’s eyes went wide. “What has happened? What error could you have possibly made?”
“You think it impossible for me to make one?” His lips twisted on a wry smile. “Oh, I have. The second one was dismissing you, but the first one was not informing you that this female is my mate.”
Pruk’s jaw slackened. “What?”
“I know,” said Zade ruefully. “I could not believe it, either.” And then he had kept it a secret.
Yoli drew herself up straight. “It makes sense, now.”
Did it? Zade was not so sure. “I need your help. Both of you.” He winced. “My mate is succumbing to the toxin released by the Gylbala-3R that attacked her on Earth, and I am…emotionally compromised. I cannot find a solution on my own. I need your help.”
His assistants both looked dumbfounded for a moment, but recovered quickly. “Of course, Zade,” said Yoli. “It would be an honor. Please tell us everything we need to know.”
Zade pulled up all of Ash’s vital statistics onto the wall behind her. Words and charts crowded the space, some in red.
They gazed at them with keen eyes. Yoli tapped a finger against her lips as she analyzed the vast amount of information scrolling down the wall. “Why did you not administer her anti-rejection drug when it was due earlier today?” she asked at last.
Ah! Zade could not stop the jolt that made him rush forward. “I was interrupted,” he murmured. “And I forgot to administer it.”
Pruk dipped his hands into the machine to get a membrane covering and then began examining Ash fresh. “Let us administer it now and see if it impacts the progression of the toxin.”
The two got to work, testing Ash’s blood, running tests of just about everything, and while it was difficult for Zade, relief moved through his veins.
Yoli slanted him a glance over her shoulder. “When did you know?”
He did not need her to clarify. “When I was preparing to build her new leg,” he replied. “I had removed the membrane on my hands to get a better feel for her bones and muscles, and began to feel strange.” He gazed at Ash, fighting the urge to touch her. “It still does.”
Yoli shook her head. “Only you would describe the bond like that. Does she know you lack any semblance of romance?”
“I took her to a meal at the Atriama in the second quadrant leisure space.” He frowned. “She seemed to enjoy herself.” He closed his mouth, recalling that Ash enjoyed herself very much in the secluded spot afterwards.
“You could have told us,” she said, looking back to Ash with a softness to her face. “We could have helped you care for her.”
“I was not prepared for the force of the bond,” Zade admitted. “I could not bear the thought of another touching her.”
Yoli smiled. “You cannot know how strange it is to see you this way.”
“Strange,” Pruk put in. “But a relief. None of us could live up to your perfection in all things.” The young Baylan male looked at Zade. “You are Baylan, not a machine, after all.”
“No,” said Zade quietly. “Not a machine.” Is that what they thought of him: a machine in flesh form?
A sudden thought hit him. With a deep breath, he stepped back.
“I must…” He didn’t finish his sentence as he bolted to his workstation and opened a link to Malak Drak-Nix, who was still on Earth tracking the creature.
The Baylan tracker sounded out of breath when he replied. “Yes?”
“What if the Gylbala-3R is not mutated or mechanical, but presents as it does because of the conditions on Earth?”
“What?” Malak replied. “These beings are supposed to be small. Even smaller than an annoying human child.” Zade heard a burst of laughter on the other end of the connection before all background sounds suddenly muted.
“Where are you?” Zade asked.
“They call it the middle of nowhere,” he replied. “I agree with the assessment.”
Zade shook his head and went back to the issue at hand.
Whatever the tracker was doing was his business.
“The research vessel Poli-4 has conducted experiments in which certain species have extraordinarily fluid development. They can grow drastically different traits depending on environmental conditions.”
“So you believe that the creature your mate encountered is, in fact, a natural Gylbala-3R, but it grew to a great size because of conditions on Earth?”
“It is the most likely explanation,” said Zade.
“What little we know of Gylbala4 is that it is a planet of extremely hostile conditions. There is little air, very intense gravity and few food sources, so the Gylbala-3R’s development is limited.
Earth provides the opposite of those things.
With so much abundance, even an organism as tiny as this one is in its newborn form could, in theory, grow huge. ”
“And voracious,” the tracker growled back. “It has killed a herd of cattle.”
“I believe you may stop looking for a Zelopian contingent on Earth. Nothing is controlling this creature aside from its own survival needs.”
There was a pause on the other end of the link. “I am curious,” said Malak. “What made you come to this conclusion?”
“A comment made by one of my assistants,” replied Zade. “Apparently they joked among themselves that I was a machine and the life change of acquiring a mate had transformed me into a different creature. It made me think of our Gylbala-3R problem and the solution presented itself.”
There was silence for a moment. “Understood.”
The link closed and Zade stood. He returned to Ash’s reju. She still lay there, pale and still. He did not need to look at her monitors to see that she was not improving.
The grave look from Yoli confirmed it. “She is deteriorating rapidly,” said his assistant. “The toxin has taken hold. Our efforts are only slowing its progress.”
If the creature developed differently on Earth, why not the venom, too? He turned to Yoli, his senior and more experienced assistant. She was about to get an abrupt promotion. “I need you at my lab. Pruk!”
The male whipped around from his spot at the monitor wall. “Yes?”
“Stay with her. Do not leave her, and inform me of any change in status. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!”
He pulled Yoli into his chamber and to his large bank of machines and interfaces.
There, he filled her in on his theory about the Gylbala-3R and the toxins in its venom.
She listened, nodding, then leaned toward him.
“Zade, I think you may be right.” She dipped her hands in the M-Clo machine and rubbed them together.
“It would explain why none of the previous antidote attempts were effective. But in order to find the correct antidote, we need to know exactly how the conditions on Earth influenced this species’ development.
It’s an extraordinary amount of work.” She began inputting information into the machine, pulling up variables and statistics on the planet.
“Assemble a team,” he told her. “Find an antidote.”
She turned wide eyes to him. “You are not taking lead?”
“I cannot,” he confessed with a weary smile. “I will assist. This time, you are the lead physician.”
She swallowed with effort and tapped her v-link. “Are you sure?”
Zade nodded and Yoli began summoning physicians and technicians and researchers to the lab.
Soon, the space was packed with Baylans and their screens.
Zade knew it was right to allow Yoli to lead.
He was simply too distracted and the bond fuddled his mind.
He stayed by Ash’s side. She was dying, slowly, and with each vital statistic that flicked to red on the monitor wall, his fear increased.
He could not fathom losing his mate, just after he had found her.
Yoli, however, had only the feverish gleam of determination and discovery in her eyes.
As time ticked by, she took deft control of the research—which should have taken five times as long to process thoroughly—and accelerated the process.
He watched her command her team with skill and confidence.
Here was someone he could trust to take on some of his duties, provided Ash survived.
At last, Yoli walked up to him, a vial of clear liquid held triumphantly high. She met Zade’s gaze. “This will either cure her or kill her,” warned Yoli. “I am seventy percent sure it will cure her, but you should not ignore that thirty percent.”
“Even if those numbers were reversed, I would administer it,” he said through a dry, rough throat. “She has a one hundred percent chance of dying if we do not.”
Yoli nodded gravely and handed him the vial. “May the stars be on her side,” she said.
His hand closed around it. “Thank you.” He felt shaky, numb, and hopeful as he crossed to the medicine port on the wall.
He inserted the vial into the slot. As he expected, the machine analyzed it and blurted out an angry beep.
The readout said: “UNKNOWN.” Zade put in his personal code to override the warning message and the antidote emptied into the tube running to Ash’s body.
Three physicians held their breath until the machine read: “ADMINISTERED.”
That was it. All they could do was wait.