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Chapter Thirteen
Ilid would remember flashes of sight and sound later, impressions of conversations involving his commanding officers, though none of their content. He heard himself recite snatches of his message to his Nobek father. The rest was nonexistence.
When he returned to himself, it was to terrible pain. His skull was on fire. His abdomen felt as if it had been flayed. He moaned and tried to rise, but he couldn’t. He was immobilized, which somehow made the agony worse.
A figure stood over him, and he had to blink tears to clear his vision to learn he was attended by Medical’s head physician. Dr. Umen gazed at him so closely, his nose hovered inches above Ilid’s.
From the corner of his eye, Ilid saw the dark rider on Umen.
“Well?”
Umen straightened and looked at the speaker. Captain Abgi stood on the other side of Ilid, who realized he lay on a medi-bed in the medical department. Abgi was also mounted by a dark.
“I’ll re-run the tests minus the influence of attachment. They should give a more accurate picture of why he sees us so well. There’s need to test the others whose accessed memories indicated they also detected a hint of our presence.”
“One percent of the crew.” Abgi’s eyes narrowed as he glared at Ilid. “We’re barely in the overlap. It’s too many of them.”
“The vessel is phased, as are they. Most of the interlopers’ kind don’t experience the overlap. We’d pass invisible among them, unless the micro-sensory attunement such as this one exhibits is of heightened strength.”
“Your estimate of those chances?”
“I can’t theorize, due to the lack of completed tests of this specimen and the other one percent. What loss is acceptable?”
“However many it takes to answer our questions.” Abgi left.
Dr. Umen regarded Ilid for a second before leaving his bedside. Ilid fought to break free but couldn’t budge. The medi-bed’s stasis field was activated, leaving him helpless.
“Your expression indicates strain. There’s no hope of escape.” Umen’s voice came from the opposite end of the room. Ilid couldn’t turn his head to see him. He also couldn’t speak.
Umen returned, escorting a hover tray of needles and instruments, including laser cutters. Ilid could at least shift his eyes, and he stared at the tray, his skin crawling. What was Umen planning to do?
As if he’d heard Ilid’s question, Umen picked up a laser cutter. “I must access your brain again. The first round of testing, you were infiltrated and felt nothing when I cut and injected nanobots to gather the needed samples. This interloper, whom you call Umen…his memories indicate such testing is usually accompanied by rendering the subject unconscious. I do not mind screams, however, so we’ll skip that step.”
Ilid’s mouth wouldn’t open. When the laser hovered over his eyes, he found he could cry out. Guttural noises sounded from his straining throat.
“Yes, it will hurt a great deal.” Leering amusement appeared on the doctor’s face. The laser flashed a red beam, aimed at Ilid’s forehead.
He screamed behind lips frozen shut.
* * * *
Shuttle flying from Alpha Space Station to Earth II
Stacy supposed she should have been delighted to ride to work in Kuran’s company. After all, it was an opportunity to them to spend a few extra minutes together beyond the sight of fellow Earthers.
The fact it had come about because her shuttle had refused to power up as she’d attempted to leave the space station, however…irritating. Extremely irritating. Especially since she’d spent the night there rather than in her bed on Earth. Kuran had poked around the shuttle’s engine in hopes of starting it but had had no luck.
He and Stacy would arrive at their offices late. She and Ken Bryant had an early appointment. He’d no doubt wonder why she’d spent another night on a Kalquorian facility.
“This is becoming difficult to keep up,” she groused.
“Clandestine affairs usually are.”
She looked Kuran over. “Oh? You have experience in tawdry encounters?”
He reddened. “Only what I’ve read about. And our affair isn’t tawdry, merely secret.”
“What you’ve read about? Oh, salacious gossip. Share it. Which notable has been caught with his or her pants down?” She leaned close, eager for scandalous conversation.
