Plague of Memory (13 page)

"Our sources tell us that the present social conflict on Vtaga centers on three concerns: the plague, which has killed hundreds and has created serious tensions among the native population; the older segment of the Hsktskt population, who opposed the peace talks, which they view as cowardice, and consider the plague a punishment for participating in them; and the proposed end to Faction-run slaver operations. Much of the Hsktskt trade system is based on slave revenues, and it is said that the merchant class is extremely unwilling to end its lucrative agreements with outside species."

That seemed far too interconnected to me. "It is as if someone caused this plague in order to harm the Hsktskt no matter what they do."

"That is also a possibility we have considered." Tlore exchanged a look with Xonea. "Whatever we discover about this plague, Healer, we must go carefully."

"As you say, ClanLeader." Hopefully our care wouldn't cost us our lives.

As the
Sunlace
and the Adan ships assumed synchronized orbit above Vtaga, I dressed in my physician's uniform and checked my medical case. The rest of our equipment and supplies were already stowed on board the launch that would take us from the ship to the surface. I had taken Marel to Salo's quarters, where Darea welcomed her and showed her the room she would share with Fasala while Reever and I were on-planet.

Marel did not seem concerned about our jaunt to the surface of Vtaga, but her parting embrace was longer and rather tighter than usual.

"I honor you, Mama," my child whispered. "Be nice to Daddy."

"I will try," I said as I smoothed her golden curls back from her brow. "Why do you say this about your father to me, Marel?"

She frowned. "I don't know. He feels stiff when I hug him. He looks at faraway things. Take care of him, Mama, please."

I promised her that I would, and that we would both return as soon as we could. I knew that we might be walking into a Hsktskt trap. I was relying on Reever and his knowledge of this species to ensure that we could return, but there was this plague, of which I knew nothing but secondhand information.

I told Marel none of this, and it grew inside me as I left her and returned to our own quarters to finish packing.

"Stop worrying," my husband said from behind me. His hands stroked the outsides of my arms. "You will do what you can for them, and we will protect you, and that will be enough."

"I pray SubAkade TssVar agrees with you." I turned to slip my arms around his waist and rest my cheek against his heart. Reever seemed indestructible, but I knew he was not. "He knows you helped Cherijo to destroy the slave depot and free the prisoners held there. Will he seek revenge for that while we are here?"

"TssVar saw me when he came to Akkabarr to negotiate a cease-fire with Teulon," my husband said. "If he had wanted retribution for Catopsa, I would not have left that deck alive."

The thought made me shudder. "Perhaps he was being polite in front of the other leaders."

"Hsktskt are never polite." Reever tilted up my chin and kissed me. "And, like you, I am not that easy to kill."

The jaunt from the
Sunlace
to the planet took a short interval, with Reever serving as pilot. I used the time to check over my medical equipment. The Senior Healer had provided me with a portable diagnostic array, programmed with every bit of knowledge we had on the Hsktskt species and
known epidemiology. Reever had fitted the unit with a special interface that would allow it to communicate with similar machines on the planet. No one but my husband could speak Hsktskt, so I and the rest of the team wore League translation devices he had programmed to translate Jorenian, Hsktskt, and Iisleg around our wrists.

When I had finished checking all the medical equipment, I activated my datapad and began reviewing various epidemics experienced by reptilian species on other worlds.

"Healer." Qonja Adan came to sit beside me. "Is something wrong?" I gave him a quick, wry look. "It takes less time to say what is right, Kheder."

He smiled. "I meant with you. You have not looked once through the view panel since we left the ship."

"I have never been to another world beyond my own," I said. "I am nervous."

"Akkabarr is an ice world. Vtaga is not." Qonja made a fluid gesture. "It may seem extremely hot and humid at first. If you have trouble with the air—"

"I can wear a breather, yes, Reever told me about them." I looked through the clear panel that showed the outside of the launch. We had passed through the thin upper atmosphere and were descending swiftly toward the surface. It seemed bizarre to see the place where the Hsktskt rasakts dwelled on the ground, like some bizarre melding of iiskar and skim city. The constructions appeared squat but immense, stretching out in orderly sections for miles. Beyond the borders of the settle

merit stretched long, curving, dark sections of blue, green, and yellow. "What are those?" I pointed to the vivid curves of color.

"Those are the rain forests. One-third of this world is covered with them. Another third is desert, which looks white from orbit." Qonja did something to the panel to alter the view to show a murky brown squiggle beyond the rain forests. "The rest is covered by seas like this one."

Reever had shown me photoscans of the oceans on Kevarzangia Two. "I thought such waters were blue."

"Not on every world. Often the chemical content and evolution of marine life cause..." The big Jorenian stopped and chuckled. "Your pardon, Healer. I forgot that you do not care to hear such things."

"I care," I assured him. The more I knew about Vtaga, the better equipped I was to discover a cure. "Please, go on."

Qonja peered at me. "You are serious." Before I could reply, he added, "Your pardon, Healer. I am not used to such . . . polite attention from you."

"Women on my homeworld are polite or they die." I heard the launch's engines transition. "But our discussion must wait. I think we have landed."

The Adan guards removed their harnesses and checked their weapons as they assembled around me. Qonja handed me my medical case and checked my wrist device before joining them. All of the men's movements were as controlled as their expressions.

I had never seen the Jorenians so silent or intent. After weeks of being among them as they smiled and chattered and laughed like boy children preparing for their first hunt, it unnerved me.

Reever came to stand beside me. He had not worn his usual black garments, but was dressed in a fitted tunic and trousers with a mottled pattern of dark green and blue. No one could see the sheaths beneath his clothing, or the access seams that would allow him to draw his blades. For once he was more heavily armed than I was.

"Analysis of air, water, and soil samples shows no dangerous microorganisms," he said quietly. "TssVar has already examined the planetary food supplies, medicines, and indigenous life-forms, and indicates they are also uninfected."

"We will check them again." I slung the strap of my medical case over my shoulder, and saw Reever flinch. "What is it?" "

"Nothing." He looked over at Qonja. "She is not to leave our custody at any time for any reason. If I am removed or detained, take her back to the ship at once."

I glared at him—if he thought I would leave him to the mercy of these beasts while I escaped to safety, he was deranged—but said nothing. I was beginning to see how effective a weapon silence could be.

Qonja inclined his head. "I will, Linguist."

The Adan assembled into two lines around me, Reever, and Qonja. The first pair opened the hull access panel and stepped into the air lock, where a bright beam of light passed over them.

"It's a biodecon scanner," Reever told me. "It identifies and neutralizes any exotic microorganisms we carry on our bodies, and provides an internal scan of each passenger so that the natives know we are what we appear to be."

"That sounds prudent." There were people who were not as they appeared to be? "What happens to those who do not, ah, pass this scan?"

"They are arrested and detained until their true form and motives can be identified." Reever moved with me into the air lock, and took my hand in his. "I will explain about the altered life-forms and shape-shifters among other humanoid species another time."

The light felt warm and soft against my face, and then the panel on the other side of the air lock slid open and we stepped out onto the docking ramp. Vtaga's heavy, hot air wafted in my face as if I were standing over a wide vent shaft. The alien dampness and weight of it as I breathed in was very nearly liquid, and vastly unpleasant. I remembered Qonja's warning and struggled to keep my breathing slow and calm.

Vtaga Central Transport appeared empty of ships and people. There were more of the glowing green globes that I had seen from the launch. "What are those things?" I asked, pointing at them.

"Heat reservoirs," my husband said. "Hsktskt cannot naturally regulate their body temperature."

"So they are slaves to warmth, as we were." I filed that away for future reference. It seemed ridiculous now, how unprepared I was for this new place. I spotted a group of towering reptilian beings in metallic silver uniforms waiting at the end of the dock area. They were giants. "You will not leave me alone."

"No." His hand tightened over mine. "Not for a moment."

At the very front of the group of Hsktskt was the tall, brutal figure I remembered from the preliminary negotiations with Teulon at Akkabarr.

"That is TssVar," I said to Reever, who nodded. My voice sounded odd, like I was whispering instead of speaking. "Does the air also make me talk like this?" I was going to have to shout at everyone if so.

"The acoustic dampers do." Reever pointed to what appeared to be a wall of writhing black foam. "They provide a sound barrier for the city and convert captured waves into displacer energy for Transport's operations."

I knew little of such technology, only that League worlds used light-based pulse energy for their needs, while the Hsktskt and their allies used sonic displacer power. Neither was superior to the other, as sound and light were plentiful, often inexhaustible fuel sources.

"It is one of many fundamental differences," my husband murmured as we approached the Hsktskt. He was reading my thoughts again. "Such evolutionary dissimilarities have kept colonial and slaver species at odds with each other for centuries."

"Like shafts, I suppose," I muttered. "Males on Akkabarr are forever bickering about who has the largest and hottest." I realized the ambiguity of my words and glanced at him. "I mean the vent shafts used to provide heat for the iiskars."

He didn't smile, but his eyes warmed. "Males argue about the size and heat-inducing qualities of the other variety of shaft as well."

As our guards stopped moving, so did we. Reever shifted and stepped in front of me at the same time the tallest and broadest of the Hsktskt stepped away from his companions. My husband and the reptilian met in the space between the two groups and, for a long moment, simply looked at each other while I held my breath.

"I should have properly greeted you, SubAkade," Reever said, "when last we met." "When last we met, I should have properly gutted you." TssVar showed every tooth in his jaws.

"When were you elevated to the ruling level?" my husband asked, as if not staring into five rows of razor-sharp teeth.

"When my superiors died in the war, but it came after I had been demoted for my role in the Catopsa incident. I might have been an Akade by now, if not for you." The Hsktskt held up a clawed hand as if he meant to strike my husband, and then brought it down slowly to touch his shoulder. "For the sake of my people and Teulon Jado, I exonerate you of all crimes against the Hsktskt, HalaVar."

I kept my hand on the hilt of the blade at my waist. Diplomatic words and ensleg gestures were not enough to reassure me.

Reever bowed his head in an odd manner and TssVar released him. My husband turned toward me and gestured for me to come forward. I did so,
feeling very conscious of Qonja hovering behind me. If I had to stab the Hsktskt, he might interfere.

"My mate has come as you requested," Reever said, taking my hand in his as I came to stand at his side. "She will help the Hsktskt if she can, but she must also be protected while she is on Vtaga. There is the matter of the blood price still on her head."

"Her .. . death .. . on Akkabarr satisfied that debt. I have also persuaded the Hanar to personally guarantee her safety while she is on Vtaga." TssVar's enormous yellow eyes swiveled down as he studied me. "Do you wish additional security, Dr. Torin?"

According to Cherijo's journals, I had delivered this male's five children on K
-2.
At gunpoint, no less.

"I have brought my own." I nodded toward the Adan surrounding us. "I am told they will kill anyone who presents a threat, verbally or physically, to me or any member of our group." I waited a moment before I added, "So will I."

"You
have
changed," TssVar said. "We shall have to be very careful of what we say and do while you are here."

I studied his expression. Reptilian features appeared harsher than most humanoids', and when he spoke I saw the rows of jagged, sharp teeth that lined his jaws. That, combined with his size, was enough to terrify anyone.

Yet there was something else about this Hsktskt that slipped around my fear. He reminded me of the jlorra: a ruthless and efficient killer, to be sure, but only when necessary. I could see the shrewdness in

PIAGUE OF MEMORY 12 5

his eyes and hear the weariness shadowing his voice. He was resolved, but he was also afraid.

As I was. "I am not here to kill, SubAkade TssVar," I told him. "Neither, I think, are you."

"I am happy to agree, Dr. Torin. Come." He inclined his head and gestured toward a waiting land vehicle. "You are first to be presented to the Hanar."

SEVEN

We traveled from Transport to the center of the settlement, Lauc-Hanarat, which Reever told me meant "City of the Hanar." Being presented to the ruler of Vtaga seemed unnecessary—I had journeyed here for the benefit of the sick, not to be paraded like a tithe woman—but it seemed prudent to begin my visit without objecting to the reptilians' customs.