Sands of Sorrow (6 page)

“Of course. You will be paired with a senior specialist for this, but I think it will benefit you both to get out in the field.”

Salika smirked, “So, what will Imron be wearing?”

“Both of you are going to be wearing the newest suits that we could arrange. Yours is non-conductive material, with structure at the hands for those specks of lightning you have been throwing. You shouldn’t need them on this trip, but it is good that you have a defense.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Provide emergency power for a city at the edge of an ocean. They have a shield in place to hold the water back but have no way of putting the new equipment into place. You are going to help them.”

“Um, all right. When do I leave?”

“Your new suits are on the shuttle, and the measurements were taken from your most recent scans. Food for Saber is on the shuttle, as are extra meat rations if you insist on hand feeding Saluk.”

“I do.”

Veera smiled. “In that case, your shuttle is ready, and your partner should be there as soon as he gets his own briefing. The tablets in the shuttle are designed for you, so no stray shocks will be an issue.”

“Um, okay. I guess I will see you when I get back.”

Veera nodded. “Have a good trip and remember that you are representing Citadel Balen. You have earned respect from those you are going to be assisting. Keep that in mind.”

“Um, I suppose I will. See you, Veera, Fixit.”

Veera smiled, and Fixit raised its wings in salute.

Salika walked out with Saber riding Saluk as he always did.

She waved at a few familiar faces as she left the building and walked to the skimmer area. She would have to take the skimmer over to the Guard base to reach the shuttle. She hadn’t driven without a co-pilot before.

Saluk and Saber settled in their spots, and she was just about to power it up when Imron called out, “Wait up.”

Salika’s knees came close to buckling in relief. “Waiting.”

There was a blur, and the skimmer rocked as he speeded into the second seat. When he was strapped in, she powered the skimmer up, and it lifted from the ground.

“So, we are going on an assignment together. Do you snore?”

She chuckled. “Ask Saluk.”

Imron’s laughter told her that Saluk had probably indicated yes.

“So, Imron, you are going to have to put me out before the jump point.”

“They have worked out a compromise. I will explain the equipment on the ship. It will be faster to recover from.”

She nodded. “Okay. Let me get us across the chasm and you can give me all the specs.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

She focused, and they flew across the expanse, landing safely in the skimmer lot near the shuttle hangars.

The shuttle that waited for them was already checked out, fuelled and ready. The tarmac monitor informed her that the ship was ready and all the items from Morganti were stored safely.

Salika got her companions into the shuttle, and now, the collection included Imron. The suits were set aside, but Salika figured that she could get dressed once they were in the air.

“We have the coordinates, and it is only two jumps. So, the faster we are on the way, the sooner we will be able to address the threat of flooding.”

He smiled. “Do you know where we are going?”

“No. I haven’t gotten that far yet.”

“Luthan. The University of Luthan is the one who thought to call for help. Just because they don’t leave their world, doesn’t mean they aren’t aware that help exists. They call and we answer.”

He set in the coordinates while she went back to seal the shuttle from the inside. The ground crew had already set the door in place, but the interior seals were damned important.

By the time she had finished securing the interior, the ship was powering up. When she checked on her companions and then strapped in, they lifted off, and Imron was flying them off on her first assignment. This job was paying for her upkeep, and she was eager to pay the Citadel back for all it had done.

The new suit she had been given had two layers. The inner layer was a fashionable bodysuit, but the outer layer was a gleaming tunic-length jacket that was functional as well as fashionable. It was the prettiest thing she had ever had against her body.

Salika returned to the command deck, and she smiled. “I really like the new suit. It feels comfortable.”

“It looks lovely. You will have to test your talent when we land, once the ship is quiet. We have a generator in the cargo hold to charge you up quickly, so after we land, we should be ready for the Luthans in an hour or so.”

“We are going to do all that testing here?”

“Yes. The Luthans only requested this help after they found out that you were one of their kind.”

“How did they find out?”

Imron snorted. “The Citadel requested biological information from the Luthans; they wanted to know why, so they learned of you.”

“Oh. Wonderful. I am guessing that this is an idea of Veera’s to get me to see my original people.”

He shrugged. “It could be, or it could be that they will only ask for help from one of their own. We will find out when we arrive.”

“Right. When is the first jump?”

“We have half an hour. Can you watch the controls while I go and change?”

“Sure. I can probably promise not to drive us into a moon or something.”

He got up, patted her on the shoulder and retreated to the back of the ship.

She looked to Saluk and sighed. “So, I finally find a male I could consider as a mate and he treats me like a child. That seems to be how my luck is running.”

Saluk let out a huff and came over to put his head on her knee. Saber hopped over and climbed the sand dog until he could reach Salika. She stroked Saluk’s head and cuddled with Saber while she watched the stars flow by.

When Imron returned, he was dressed as splendidly as she was, but his suit was merely patterned to mimic the tunic she was wearing.

He settled and shifted. “It fits surprisingly well.”

“They used our medical scans to make the suits. I am just relieved that the monitors have been integrated into the suit. They were starting to get on my nerves.”

Imron chuckled and touched a flat square on the control panel. A panel was unfolded, and when he pulled out the content, it was a wide band that was wired directly into the console.

“Here, put this on. It will put your brain to sleep before the jump and wake you up right after.”

She took the band and turned it over. “Has it been tested?”

“That is what this is. You are testing equipment that will save lives and enable jump sensitives to travel more easily without chemical sedation.”

“Let me guess; I get paid for this, too.”

“You do. We are coming up on the jump point. If you want standard sedation, I can still do it.”

“No, I will try this. I am all up for maximum alert time in the stars.”

“We are almost there, so put it on.”

She set the headband in place, and the two inches of circuits and metal tightened until it was hard to tell where it ended and she began.

Salika clutched Saber and nodded.

“I am ready.”

He turned and his mouth opened, but everything went black.

When her eyes opened, he was looking at her in concern, but the stars had changed. “Did we jump? I think it worked.”

He grinned. “It worked. Keep it on; we have one more jump point in an hour. The more it can read your baseline consciousness, the faster it can get you there next time.”

“How long was I out?”

“Seven minutes.”

She nodded. That wasn’t bad considering that she had been in a coma for weeks the previous time.

“Well, let’s see how fast I can come out of it the second time.”

Saber chirped cheekily and stared out at the stars. Saluk snorted and leaned his head against her thigh.

They were ready for anything.

Recovery time from the second jump was faster than the first. Salika was reading the specs for the job that they were about to embark on, and she swallowed when she realized the scope of the problem.

The city wasn’t simply next to the ocean; it was under it.

“So, I am going to have to hold the old system stable while the new system is put in place.”

“Correct.”

She looked at it and considered her options. “What about my starting up the new system inside the old one and then holding the new machinery in full function while the power wiring is transferred over? It will mean that the new equipment will take on the weight of the sea while I power it, but as long as I power up before we go out, it should work.”

Imron grinned. “Should?”

“Sure, if you can wire the system fast enough. Do you doubt your speed?”

He snorted. “Are you calling me slow?”

“No, I am goading you into helping me on this.”

“Well, if you have gone to the trouble of plotting against me, I believe I should make the effort.” He chuckled.

“Rising to the challenge?”

“Working with my partner.” His correction was said with a smile.

Saluk huffed and then did something shocking. He walked the few steps over to Imron and poked him with his nose.

Imron was startled, but he slowly lowered his hand to Saluk’s side and stroked the scales. “They feel soft.”

Salika grinned. “Because he is calm. When he gets angry, they stand out and the points can cut.”

Saluk flicked the scales under Imron’s hand, and he jerked his hand back.

He was undamaged but amazed. “I didn’t know that they were all individually mobile.”

“Of course they are. He can even crawl on them if he needs to. They pull his body along.”

“That is fascinating.”

Saluk huffed again and returned to Salika.

Salika chuckled. “He thinks you are being sarcastic.”

“He speaks to you in full sentences?”

“No, more like images. My mind isn’t capable of telepathic communication in a direct manner. Just ask my therapist.”

“You are still seeing her?”

“Yes. I am experiencing a lot of new things and feelings. It helps to have someone to assist me in analyzing the changes.”

He nodded. “I can understand that. It is an alien situation to be in the company of so many different species.”

She laughed. “I am still dealing with having people speak to me in public. It is definitely a strange situation.”

“Did you know what the Luthans are paying the Citadel with?”

“No.” It wasn’t in the file. The file had only dealt with the specs of the assignment.

“The Luthan government is giving a full biological history of their species in exchange for our help on this mission.”

“What?”

“Yes, it is so that you know what you are, and that our medics can treat you properly. At this point, they have simply been assuming you were either healthy or unconscious.”

She snorted.

They bantered on for the next few hours as they approached and got clearance to land on Luthan.

Imron chuckled. “This is where it becomes fun. They are going to want us to go through their customs checks, but you need to charge up, so let’s flash charge you and give them something to examine.”

She laughed and headed to the hold with her entourage. The flash generator had only been used twice, and both times, it had been to provide her with a massive charge that she could control the distribution of. Today made number three.

Imron started up the generator while cranking it so rapidly that his arm below the elbow became a blur.

The ball of lightning formed and grew larger and larger until it nearly touched the sides of the containment unit, and that is when Salika slid her hands in. The power went through her fingers and palms and settled in her body. After a few minutes of whirring and cranking, she nodded. Her hair was prickling and that meant she was at full charge.

Imron shook his hand out, and he grinned. “I wonder if they will try to use that when we are gone.”

“Will they be in the ship?”

“I would not doubt it. Despite the fact that they finally called for help, they do not like outsiders.”

Salika ran her hands down her tunic and touched Saluk’s head. Saber was riding proud on his back. With Imron beside her, she knew they made a striking impression the moment that they lowered the cargo ramp and stepped on the home world of her ancestors.

The Luthans were shorter than she had expected. Imron towered above them.

The representative wore robes similar to that of the priests back home, and he was staring at her. “You are one of the Sorrows?”

“I am not familiar with that term.”

He paused. “It doesn’t matter. This way to the subterranean shuttle.”

There were no introductions, no shaking of hands and, surprisingly, no one asked about Saluk and Saber.

They walked a few hundred metres and stepped into a pod that slid onto a track, and soon, they were moving across the landscape. They went from a land mass to a coastline, and then, the rails dipped below the surface, carrying them through an energized tunnel and down to a lit passageway with a bright light glowing in the distance.

“We are hundreds of metres below the surface of our oceans, and Kiamen City is our crowning achievement. It houses one-fifth of our total population and is completely self-contained.”

Salika knew about that, her people were the same.

It was mean of her, but she had to ask, “What about Daenskil?”

The representative blinked and jerked a little. “How do you know about that?”

“It was why the ships left, was it not? So much grief over trying to control the environment and so much death.” It was one of the lessons taught to the smallest children.

“Daenskil was a regrettable accident, but that is why we have called you here. We don’t want to repeat it.”

Imron looked at her. “What was it?”

“I was taught that the government created a city called Daenskil and filled it with the best and brightest inside a mountain. The shields holding the stone collapsed, and the city was crushed. It took the few survivors of the collapse days if not weeks to die.”