Universe of the Soul (14 page)

Adaptation is the key to living in a new, strange environment. It comes in two forms: biological and cultural. I guess we paranthians did poorly at both.

We had problems adapting to the chemical balance in the new atmosphere. Actually, I should say, everyone over a score of years had problems adapting to the new atmosphere. Within a year, ninety-eight percent of those over the age of twenty had died. My parents were among them. With all the older and wiser among us dead or dying, there was no one to guide the rest of us, and our weakness was soon exploited.

The Commonwealth moved in and began to take over almost before we had our loved ones buried. New rules were erected, new expectations to us lucky ones who had survived the adaptation set in place. It wasn't long before we found ourselves being…coerced? Forced? Persuaded? into scattering across the galaxy, working now for the privilege to return home. Dupes of the Commonwealth, indeed.

I was shunted into the Galactic Commonwealth Navy, to help fill their voracious appetite for ATF fodder. I thought I would hate it, and at

times I really do, but at least I feel like I can protect my fellow paranthians here from other forces eager to swallow us.

It almost makes up for being a one and only amid billions.

“B
ut really doctor, I'm just fine.”

“Nonsense, Sergeant Duane. If that was so, then you wouldn't have a gaping head laceration like the one bleeding all over your uniform, now would you?”

“Oh, that. Um, it's just a scratch, really. Isn't it, L.C.?”

“The lieutenant commander is in no position to dictate your welfare, Sergeant. If I don't see Nurse Rooke treating you on bed seven in two milliseconds, I'm putting you on bed rest for the rest of the week. Is that understood?”

“Er, yes doctor. Perfectly understood. I'm going now, fully cooperative.”

“Now, Lieutenant Commander, I believe you should be lying down. From the way you limped in here, I'm concerned that you have some more serious damage. Superficial damage alone looks quite unpleasant.”

“I'm fine where I am, doctor.”

“Is that so? And who, may I ask, told you that you had a medical degree? If this is your idea of ‘fine' then I would hate to see your diagnosis of critical.”

Gray floated in a soft misty world with no substantial shape or color. The voices, at first indistinguishable from each other, cleared into ones he recognized. The words became understandable, and he listened with detached amusement to the exchange between Doctor Geiger and his patients.
Must be in the infirmary
, he mused vaguely. His body didn't hurt. In fact, he couldn't really feel his body, which was a bad sign. Adri's voice shifted his wandering attention away from his possible injuries. She sounded very close.

“The only pain I'm feeling right now is the headache you're giving me with your constant pestering,” she was saying in a testy voice. “Since you have all this time to waste buzzing around me, why can't you do something more for Lieutenant Grayson? He's still really pale, and he hasn't woken up yet.”

Aw, she's worried about me
, Gray thought, adding warmth to the vague sense of awareness he felt.

“For the tenth time, he's doing nicely. A nasty crack on the skull, and some minor burns and bruises. A couple of days here and he'll be back to where he started.” Doctor Geiger replied. “You, on the other hand, are a mess. If you don't let me treat you right away, your eye is going to swell completely shut, and whatever mess your chest is in is going to get worse. Then you'll have to stay here longer. Do you really want that?”

With supreme effort, Gray remembered how to open his eyes, and after what felt like an inordinate amount of time, he managed to do so. At first, all he could see was the ceiling of the infirmary. He slowly moved his eyes down until he saw Adri, sitting on the edge of his bed, watching him.

“Hey there,” she said softly when she realized he was awake. “How are you feeling?”

Gray pondered this a moment. “I feel…floaty.”

“Geiger has you on some stiff stuff to keep the headache off. You were in pretty bad shape.”

“Grenade,” Gray suddenly recalled.

“Yeah, blasted the whole hallway.” He could feel Adri's hand gently touch his own. He wondered if she even realized what she was doing.

“Piontek?”

Adri glanced away at the far side of the infirmary. “Doubtful. He's in surgery now.”

Gray took a moment to really study Adri's appearance. “You look awful.”

Adri reached up to gingerly touch the swelling around her eye. “Gee, thanks.”

“Are you sticking around?” he asked, his voice sliding to a whisper as the will to remain conscious weakened.

“Somebody's got to do it,” Adri replied, with a small smile.

“You should lie down.” Gray blinked as his vision wavered.

Adri shrugged, and then winced. “I hate infirmaries. The only way Doctor Gloom here is getting me into one of those beds is if he drugs - ” her eyes widened and her body jerked instinctively as the doctor removed the old fashioned needle from the back of her arm.

“My thoughts exactly, dear,” Doctor Geiger said pleasantly. “Luckily I still have these old syringes stashed in case of emergencies. You always managed to hear my other equipment charging up and dodge.

“Danwe.” Adri muttered as she began to slide off the bed.

Gray couldn't help the smile tugging at his mouth as his eyes closed. He could hear Adri's slurring protests as the doctor half carried her to the next bed over and laid her down. The last thing he heard before drifting back was Geiger's voice; “Now, let's see what the damage is…By Danwe Rael, why are you wearing a swimsuit under your uniform?”

Gray opened his eyes again…moments later? Hours later? A glance to his right found Adri in the bed next to him, sleeping. The swelling around her eye had gone down considerably, making him wonder just how long he'd been unconscious.

“Lieutenant Grayson,”

Gray turned and saw Duane walk up to his bed. “Hello Duane. What are you in for?”

“Minor scrapes and bruises. I've just been released.” Duane replied. He had an abundance of skin tape around his right eye and down the side of his face. The pale cream color stuck out oddly against his magenta complexion.

“How's Ad-the L.C.?” Gray pushed himself up into a sitting position. His head swam for a moment, and then settled.

Duane glanced over at Adri. “Some deep internal bruising, a couple of broken ribs, and so on. She said she got in a fistfight with the Belligerent Coalition leader. Can you imagine?”

Gray shook his head carefully. “It's a bit hard to believe.”

Duane bit his lower lip a bit apprehensively. “This whole episode is a bit hard to believe.”

“Have you heard all the details?” Gray asked. “How did they get aboard the ship? What were they
doing
once they got here? Do the analysts have any theories yet?”

“Rumors I've heard in the past few hours from others here in the infirmary are pretty wild. My guess is nobody has any good idea. You've gotta admit, knowing that the Belligerents can just randomly appear on the ship is really freaky.”

“They simply appeared? They didn't come in through the docking bay?” Gray was incredulous. If the Belligerent Coalition had discovered the ability to…teleport somehow, it could very well change the tide of the whole war. The Galactic Commonwealth had always been at the forefront of new technology, but he'd heard nothing about any feasible plans that would allow a being to teleport from one place to another. Certainly not the ship-to-ship distance that would have been needed to keep the enemy ship from appearing on the
Oreallus's
sensors.

“Yeah, it's got everyone running scared. The captain has called up the security team onto the bridge to protect him. Another creepy thing is that there aren't enough enemy bodies to equal the reported number of attacking troops. At least, that's what I've heard. Geiger makes a habit of confiscating everyone's communicators once they enter the infirmary. Darned annoying when you want to know what's going on,”

Gray made an agreeing grunting noise, deep in thought. “This whole setup since I arrived has been out of character for a typical Belligerent strategy.”

Duane nodded. “Everything they've done seems…”

“To be aimed at the L.C.” Gray finished. “Whoever's in charge seems determined to take Adri down, one way or another. They tried to take her prisoner on Rema. When that didn't work, they moved on to annihilation.”

Duane blinked at the unfamiliar use of Adri's given name. “It would seem so. Speaking of
Adri
, just how…er…close are you two?”

Gray gingerly touched the back of his head to feel the damage. “Not as close as I would like. But we're getting there.”

The paranthian eyed him with a mixture of astonishment and glee. “Are you trying to date the L.C.?”

“Don't be ridiculous. Adri is not the kind of woman you
date.
She's the kind of woman you have to actively pursue and then drown in seduction before she realizes you're serious.” Gray glanced at the side table and wished for a glass of water. Or even coffee.

“So you're…”

“Going to marry her.” Gray replied confidently. “She's the one I've been waiting for.”

Gray strode into the infirmary and over to Adri's bed. He smiled when he saw that she was sitting up, her arms folded across her chest, looking both seriously annoyed and terribly bored. “How you feeling?'

Adri gave him a mutinous glare. “Ready to kill someone. Our demon doctor says forty-seven more hours before he'll even consider letting me out of here.”

“Hmm,” Gray replied diplomatically. “Hey, did you know we're passing Junus now? We dropped back down to normal speed while we wait for a relay message from one of the moons in this system.”

Adri waved her hand dismissively. “What's the update?”

Adri had been confined to the infirmary for three days, an eternity for someone who was always active. The first two days the doctor had kept her unconscious, knowing it was the only way to keep the lieutenant commander still long enough for her wounds to heal. Since Gray had been released the day following the attack, he'd faithfully come every day to sit by her side. This was the first time, however, that she would be fully alert and coherent.

“What are the analysts saying about the attack?” Adri demanded. “What is the total damage to the ship? Any prisoners? Come
on
Gray, you've got to give me some information!”

Gray smiled and took her hand the same way she had when their roles had been reversed days before. “You're sure cute when you're annoyed Adri.”

“Then I'm about to be beautiful in a minute because I am getting FURIOUS here!”

Still smiling, he took the hand he held and pressed a kiss on the callused tips of her fingers. Adri stared at him, stunned, feeling as though…she had no idea. He sure knew how to diffuse her temper. “You've got to quit that.”

“Why?”

Why indeed?
“Because.” The universal non-answer was the best she could come up with.

Gray laughed. He couldn't help it; the look on her lovely face was one of such confused pleasure that anyone who knew Adri in her lieutenant commander role would have been shocked. Leaning forward he brushed a kiss across her pouting lips, then rested his forehead against hers. Then it slipped out, as if some greater power had deemed it time, even if Gray did not. “I love you Adri.”

If he had pulled out an ATF and shot her between the eyes, she would have been less surprised. “No you don't,” she stammered.

With infinite slowness Gray leaned back. “I don't?” he repeated calmly.

Adri stared up into his dark gray eyes, feeling something uncomfortably akin to panic. His eyes seemed calm as always, but the shadows behind them seemed to reveal something else. Disappointment? Anger? Hurt? At the last thought, Adri swallow. Had she just hurt him?

“Tell me, Lieutenant Commander,” his cool tone had Adri flinching, “how it is that you think you can dictate my private feelings?”

She opened her mouth, found she had nothing to say, and closed it again.

“Good. This wasn't quite the way I had planned to tell you, but there it is. I love you. I think I've loved you the moment I first saw you. You're everything I could ever hope to find. You are intelligent and courageous, and beautiful and sweet and vulnerable and so clueless sometimes.” Here his eyes warmed and he smiled again. “You quite undo me.”

Somewhere in her mind Adri knew she objected to some of his terms, but all she could sputter was, “I'm not as complicated as you make me sound.”

“Complicated?” Gray repeated. “Baby, you are so complex you make my head hurt sometimes. Just figuring you out is going to be a life's work.” He leaned forward and kissed her again, firm and brief. “I'm going to thoroughly enjoy it. Once we get married, I'll have all the rights to take on the task.”

“You're crazy! I'm not marrying you!” How had this conversation gotten so out of hand?

He grinned and took her hand in his again. “Ever heard the expression ‘crazy in love'? And I will marry you, Adri. Just as soon as you give me the words I want.”

“Seriously demented.” But she didn't remove her hand. “And I'm not telling you whatever words you think I'm going to say. Seriously, we don't even know each other that well.” Even as she spoke, something inside herself seemed to sigh at the romance of the situation, and sigh again as she tried to ruin it. Adri felt as though there was a war going on inside herself. The side that wanted to fling herself into Gray's arms, however painful that would be with her healing ribs, stood against the side that cringed from the very idea of giving so fragile an organ as her heart to anyone.

“Sure we do.” Gray replied with his usual confidence. “We've been together for several weeks now. We've worked together, eaten together, spent leisure time together. The only thing we haven't done is sleep together.”

All of Adri's insides seemed to quicken at the very words. “And we won't.”

“Yes we will.” Gray pressed a kiss into her palm. Adri could practically feel herself melt. “When we're both ready. I've discovered that I'm a pretty traditional sort of man. When you give me the words. Then I'll know you're ready.”

“I don't think you get it, Gray.” Adri felt sick with a sort of panicked confusion. “I'm not going to sleep with you, I'm not going to marry you, and I'm certainly not going to give you any words, especially when I don't know what you're even talking about!”

Gray looked down at her hand in his for a long moment before she drew it away. When he looked back up at her, his eyes were filled with a sort of quiet longing. “Yes, I know. That's why I'm not pushing harder, even though I want to. When you know what the words are, and are ready to tell me, you will.”

“Why are you so sure?”

Before he could reply, his communicator blipped. [Tolsto to Grayson,]

“I'll be right back,” Gray murmured before rising and brushing his earpiece. [Grayson here, what's the problem?] As the security ensign talked, Gray moved out of hearing range, leaving Adri stuck in the bed, more confused and frightened than she had been in many years.