“Dad! DAD!”
Urle pushed out of his seat. The panic if his daughter’s voice was something serious; not a bumped head, not in jest. There was a problem.
“What is it?” he demanded.
“Lieutenant Pirra and Commander Cenz are back! He’s hurt!” Hannah said, fear and panic in her voice.
Urle pushed off the deck past her and into the hall.
There was already a crowd, and he saw Cenz being helped along by a crew member. His suit was gone; he looked dry as bone, and Urle felt a stab of horror as he saw the massive chunk of his side that was missing.
Pirra was leaning against a wall, waving away another crew member who was trying to help her.
“Just help Cenz,” she said. She looked exhausted, battered and bruised, but not seriously injured.
“Pirra!” Alexander shoved through the crowd in his haste to reach her, and when she saw him her eyes lit up.
She said nothing, merely throwing her arms around him.
“Oh god, I was so worried,” he said, embracing her.
“We should have gone to Axas,” she said, a true but weary smile on her face.
Urle pushed in towards Cenz. “Let me through, I can assist,” he said.
Brooks appeared as Urle hooked his arm under Cenz’s other side. There was some dampness left in the crevices of his body, but it didn’t seem good. His polyps looked like the color had drained from them.
“System, begin filling medical tub A with a saline solution for a Coral,” he ordered.
Pirra came alongside, still watching Cenz. “He’s been out of his suit for a few hours now. I’m sorry, but I’m not sure how long, I’ll have to check my system.”
She sounded like she blamed herself, and Urle nodded to her. “You did good work bringing him back, Pirra.”
She glanced towards the airlock. Kell was standing there, watching impassively.
“The Ambassador saved our lives,” she said. “We wouldn’t have made it back without him.”
Urle said no more, continuing on with Cenz.
As they brought the being into the medical bay, the tub was already half-filled.
Even in the low gravity, it was tricky getting Cenz into the tank, but they managed. As the medicated water went over his body, he saw the polyps begin to move. But it was only the flow of water that was doing it. He still was not sure if the being was even alive.
“Sir,” the medical orderly said. “I think we’ve got life signs!”
Urle slowly let out his held breath. “Track the numbers. I want every last polyp accounted for.”
As the orderly went to work, Urle crouched next to the tank, looking in the side. His own sensors could not tell much about Cenz. He never had seen the being like this.
He’d always seemed huge, in his hulking water-filled suit. But now, outside of it, he could see each chunk of rock, held together by strange pink strands that he knew served as the muscle fibers of his body.
And he looked so small.
Pirra felt drained. She felt shocked that she had made it. Her guard didn’t want to drop – somewhere along the way she had accepted her death as inevitable.
Alexander still held her, his presence a comfort. She was shivering slightly, a reaction to adrenal letdown that many species shared.
But her duty wasn’t done yet. She had to tell the Captain.
“I have to make a report,” she told Alexander, slipping from his grip.
“Pirra, you need medical attention-” he said, alarmed – and right, she knew.
“This is more important,” she told him, meeting his gaze.
He stared back into her eyes, and she knew that on some level he would never understand her, nor she him. There was just too much distance.
Alexander nodded. He did not understand her, but he respected her.
It was enough.
She moved away, glad they were in zero-g. She wasn’t sure she could walk right now in full gravity.
Alexander kept watching her until she rounded the corner. The Captain had gone down towards the med center.
A shadow loomed over her, and she nearly jumped. It was Kell.
“You did not abandon him,” the Ambassador said. “Why?”
It took her a moment to realize that it meant Cenz. “I won’t abandon anyone if I have a choice,” she replied.
There was nothing on the Ambassador’s face to read. Was Kell really that mercenary? Would he have simply left a dying comrade?
But then, he had showed up for them.
She didn’t know what to make of that. Looking at him, she could only think of the violence he’d left in his wake.
“I am impressed,” the Ambassador said as he turned and drifted away.
Pirra watched after the being for a moment, before forcing herself to move again. Entering the med center, she saw Brooks standing out of the way as Urle and the medical team tried to save the Commander’s life.
She forced herself to ignore it. She couldn’t do anything else for Cenz right now.
“Captain,” she said. “I have to report to you what we saw.”
Brooks looked her over. “Are you in a condition to-“
“They were trying to kill us,” she said quickly. “I have evidence. And . . . there’s more.”
Brooks’ expression went grim. “Step into the conference room and tell me everything.”
Other Terrestrial 