Stellar fusion, p.27
Stellar Fusion, page 27
part #1 of Infinite Spark Series
“Paramor?” Seeing him smile, she let out the breath she was holding and released her grip, lying back on the pillow.
Paramor finished his evaluation and rose.
“It is good to see you alive and well.” His voice was mellifluous and reassuring. He shifted up to Atana’s head. “You will be fine in a few cycles. Until then, you must rest.”
“Thank you.”
He gave her shoulder a light squeeze and walked out of the room, pulling the large man off to the side of the structure.
“No species has ever witnessed anything like this.” Paramor’s gray and white irises studied the screen in his hands. “It isn’t logical for anyone to survive such heat, let alone two individuals. But you did. A nova.” He shook his head in disbelief. “The universe accepts things in equilibrium. Two equal parts balance each other, leaving nothing for it to interfere with. However…”
“What? Is something wrong with her?” Azure hadn’t let himself sleep when she had, even when Rimsan had offered to stand guard. He couldn’t bring himself to close his eyes for fear of waking to find her gone, and this was just another dream.
“You think she did something to your skin, and it stopped burning?” He gestured an open palm under Azure’s forearm.
Exhausted, he could only muster one word with internal panic shredding his last ounce of resilience. “Yes.”
Paramor held the scanner over his skin. It hummed and peeped. “As I suspected. She changed yours, making you able to tolerate the higher temperatures. But you also changed hers. For every action, there is always an equal and opposite reaction, to maintain equilibrium. In a few days, she will be like you, Xahu’ré gray with thermo-stripes and all.”
“But she’s okay?”
“Better than okay.” Paramor’s silver eyes crinkled in the corners with his grin.
Azure rubbed the ache from his mouth with a hand, relieved. He used to wonder what she would look like in her Xahu’ré form, where her stripes would be, if her hair would straighten or crimp more. Guilt now welled in his soul, having wished for a change she might not even want.
“She saved your life. In that moment, you two were one being. You are like each other now. You’re the first nova survivors, ever, bonded down to the cellular level.”
“I don’t understand how this is possible.”
“It was probably the Mirramor in her. Novas are uncharted territory for us.” Maybe you two loved one other but weren’t letting it out. So the universe chose this path for your combined energy. It’s hard to know for sure what’s written in the stars, prophesied or not.
Azure leaned through the doorway to gaze at the woman lying on the cot. The flowing waves of her hair lay draped around her like a halo. His angel had finally returned. Kneeling down beside her, he lifted a hand, drawing the dark mahogany bangs from her light-mocha cheeks.
Catching a whiff of his scent, Atana rolled toward him, her irises glowing. She reached over and tenderly traced the edge of his jaw with her fingertips, gently coaxing his lips to hers.
He held back, concerned, with her team in the fields outside the hut.
She smiled. It’s okay. My job isn’t my priority anymore. I would give up everything for you.
His unwavering love for her surged from his finally healing soul. Wisps of blue light enveloped the two, his lips meeting hers with strength, desperately trying to make up for lost time. The taste of her skin was sweeter and more exhilarating than anything he had experienced because this time, he had her in his grasp. The oppressed had been freed, and their hopeful future remained intact.
Their noses brushed, her scent, intoxicating, blurring his vision, as if living a dream. She drew his hand to her chin, their eyes connecting in adoration of one another. His fingers caressed her skin, the way he had wanted when the pain was too much to bear.
Kios snapped them out of their moment, bursting into the hut. “Sahara!”
His wet cheeks showed he had been crying, again. Azure put a hand against the boy’s back, who reached up, giving Atana a desperate hug.
“Why did you call me that?” she asked, surprised.
“It’s your name,” the boy replied earnestly, climbing up onto the bed and sitting next to her. His hands took the sides of her face.
Unsure of what he was doing, she reached up to stabilize him. He leaned over and touched his forehead to hers, imitating what he had witnessed others do in the past. But he knew exactly what would result.
She realized he was connecting to her, his mind taking what he could endure—healing her from the inside out.
“No, Kios, stop.” Atana pushed him away. Opening her eyes, she frantically pressed her fingers into the skin on one of her forearms. She saw the last of her injuries vanish. Her color was darkening and dulling to gray.
The boy crumpled, holding his head, whimpering from the pain rattling his body.
“Kios, oh no!” Sitting up, she wrapped him tightly in her arms. “Thank you. But, please, Kios, promise you will never do that again.”
He nodded in her arms. Her eyes stung as she gave his wet cheek a kiss. Azure rubbed the boy’s back with a large hand.
“I have never seen a Xahu’ré so young capable of connecting to our Ether. Already a little warrior,” he stated, impressed.
Kios’s dewy eyelids cracked open. “Ma told me I am special.”
. . .
Bennett posted himself on a bench of twisted Jesiar wood. He grasped the receiver node on his forehead and removed the unit, placing it behind him on a large boulder of royal blue lapis, streaked with gold. Glancing into the hut, he traced her curves, grateful he could still look at her.
To his surprise, he heard her dulcet voice resound softly between his ears. We need to talk, tonight.
He thought it odd.
She did say that after I took this off, didn’t she? His fingers toyed with the pliable cables connecting the nodes.
Imara sat down next to Bennett. The fields around them were in full bloom. Deep-red Jesiar flowers sent sparkling, yellow pollen floating up into the breeze.
“So what now?” Bennett asked her.
She shrugged. “Hard to say. Just enjoying the freedom for the moment. No Agutra has ever experienced this. The Saemas and Healers will likely discuss finding the survivors a planet, if we can figure out how to operate this floating pit from hell.”
He bobbed his head. “Makes sense not to rush into anything. Maybe we can help find you all a place, if Command permits it, which I hope they will after all this.”
“You saved us from infinite death.”
Bennett hummed a grunt and looked away. “Many had to die. And you helped save our planet. So we are in debt to one another.”
She caught him studying the couple inside. “I know how you feel.”
“What do you mean?” He switched to stare at the ground in front of them.
“The person you love is with someone else.” She vacantly scanned the fields, a small, black bud twirling between her fingers.
Bennett lifted his head. Imara’s complexion was of a typical Xahu’ré female, though she had stripes on her face, whereas the vast majority did not. He caught her gaze, tracking it inside the hut, next to Atana. He laughed. “You want to be with Azure?”
Her cheeks flushed violet. “You don’t know him like I do. He’s a strong warrior, a great guard, and the leader our people need.”
“I think he’s a big softie on the inside, fronts he’s a hard man.”
“He’s been so obsessed with this prophecy, with her…”
“Well, there must be some truth to it, don’t you think? I mean they did just survive a nova. That is what they are calling it, yes?”
She responded, “It still, like your kind say, sucks.”
Bennett rested his elbows on his knees. He had finally sorted out how to handle his own situation.
“I thought today, after seeing the explosion, I had lost her forever. So, Imara, think about this.” His eyes graced Atana’s outline with Kios tight in her arms and directed toward the hut with a weak wave of his hand. “True happiness is seeing the ones we love healthy and happy themselves, whether that is with us or not.”
She thought long and hard about his words. When she had grasped his concept, she smiled grimly at him and stood, leaving Bennett to sit alone, once again.
. . .
A dark lullaby, the hushed winds sung softly to the unattended leaves in the fields of the sacrifices for freedom. Many of the workers had stepped forward during the crisis and taken to the hunt with crudely hammered knives, a handful of collected Warruk’s weapons, wooden staffs, and the occasional handmade gun. Every color imaginable had been painted down the halls—indigo, plum, burgundy, orange, ochre, taupe ─a three-dimensional form of abstract expressionism.
The shepherds recently assigned to the mission continued their patrol with the perimeter guards and volunteers, searching for hidden combatants. One of UP’s assigned Team Leaders had suggested Bennett’s crew take reprieve and stay with Sergeant Atana. Bennett accepted, reluctantly, after every other crew had backed up the offer.
The team watched Teek and Ramura talk in the fields behind the hut. Kios sat between them, facing Ramura, playing a game with small stones. Teek sneaked his tail around behind the boy, tickling one of his ears with its puffy end. Kios squirmed and giggled, shying away from its touch, falling forward into a laughing Ramura’s arms.
A group of children ran by in the distance, giggling. It made Panton smile. Desperately, deep down in his bones, he wanted a family of his own, to play with his own children and teach them ways to be strong and good to others, to help make the universe a better place.
Josie’s body pressed into him, and he wrapped an arm around her, out of subconscious commitment to his duty. His mind was following the youngsters chasing each other through the tall grass. None of the shepherds ever had much of a childhood worth talking about. Their sounds of laughter were so foreign, though part of him innately understood the uplifting effects of such gleeful activity.
“Josh,” she whispered tenderly, up at him. “Josh.”
When he looked to meet her request, she took fistfuls of his jacket, pulling him down and into her warm vanilla lips.
She likes me? Taking in a breath, infused with the scent of her skin, his heart pounded. She likes me!
Tanner turned around at Panton’s hum to see his teammates’ mouths locked together and groaned. Panton released one hand long enough to give Tanner the bird but didn’t let go of the girl he finally had synched up tight, in his arms.
“What on Earth is going on?” Tanner asked, squeamish at the sight of his team breaking Rule Number One.
“We aren’t on Earth,” Cutter chimed in, the two of them ambling away. “Haven’t you ever wanted a family?”
Tanner shook his head. “Well, yes, but because I don’t know what that entails and it’s deemed incorrect, I avoid it and anything related.”
“Who cares? They need to enjoy life. We get one shot at it.” Cutter grinned as a girl he had seen Tanner eyeing earlier appeared down a row of flowers. He tilted his head her direction. “I know you want to.”
“What? No, I don’t.” Tanner glanced at the female perimeter guard walking through the field, inspecting the crop blossoms. The strength left his lungs, his feet glued to the ground.
“Love doesn’t need words, Remmi.” Cutter picked a small, pink, non-crop flower from the ground and handed it to his partner. “Give her this. Trust me.”
“I don’t know.” Tanner took the flower between his fingers. “What if she doesn’t…like me?”
Cutter chuckled at the blushing man beside him. “With that adorable lopsided smile, you could get any girl you want.”
“Dick.” Tanner planted a light punch in his shoulder, tamping down his urge to grin for fear of proving his partner right. “Seriously.”
“Then you won’t be breaking any rules.” With a swift and hard pat to Tanner’s shoulder, he whispered, “Go on.”
Tanner shifted his e-rifle strap farther up his shoulder. With heavy feet, he walked down the row. In looking up at her, he caught her studying him. He stopped a meter away, letting out a short, embarrassed laugh. “You are beautiful.”
“Hi,” she said bashfully. Hundreds of thin, magenta strands, nearly two meters long, sprung out from her spine, uncurling like ferns. A bright pulse zinged through them to the rhythm of her heart. “Still think so?”
Tanner’s lips parted in shock. “You look like a butterfly.”
“I’m not a butterfly, silly. I’m a Primvera.” She beamed at him. “Sergeant Remmi Tanner.”
“Telepathic.” He stammered. “Perimeter guard, right.”
“My name is Amianna.” She hummed a giggle. “I remember you,” she sang out, tracing his crooked smile in length. “The stunner with the gunner.” She gestured toward Cutter, who waved, his hands not leaving the reloaded shotgun across his front. “Gunner.”
Cutter stood close enough he could monitor his rigid-backed partner and his new interest. A memory of a familiar, smiling, heart-shaped face flashed before his eyes. His sternum cramped as if it were collapsing against his spine. The spiced breeze wrapped its arms around him—a thick blanket on a winter’s night.
I’m so sorry I failed you. He closed his eyes, only for a moment, imagining the warmth against his cheek was hers.
The delicate winds whispered in his ears.
I forgive you.
Chapter 62
A BLISSFUL STILLNESS permeated the containers that night, the workers resting peacefully for a change. The amber light faded, the shepherds and guards patrolling through the sleep cycle. Kios snuggled with Ramura in her bunkhouse, the team resting in the room opposite Atana and Azure’s in Paramor’s new-recruit hut.
Despite the surrounding quiescence, Bennett couldn’t sleep.
He stood from his seat on the bench to stretch his legs. Arising quietly from the bed, trying not to wake Azure, Atana slipped out of the room and into the clearing. Her bare feet were soundless in the dirt, until she stood beside Bennett, catching him off guard.
They stared, in uncomfortable silence, at the starlight highlighting the twisted edges of the flowers in the fields. Groupings of green bugs illuminated in the distance, dancing above the crops.
Jameson.
He winced and wondered if he was imagining it all. Her skin had darkened, her stripes already beginning to show. Her hair was turning the typical Xahu’ré dark charcoal, her lashes following suit.
Ramura had given her a short, brown fiber dress to wear, her arms and legs barely covered by the burlap. He struggled to contain the lovesick thoughts that flooded in. He looked away, visualizing the leathers on her instead.
I’m not a hallucination, Jameson. She reached up and lightly touched his face, showing him she was truly there and what he was hearing was real. He closed his eyes. Please look at me.
Nakio, what’s going on? The sensation of her fingerprints against his cheeks tugged at his heartstrings. Why are we talking like this?
She shrugged. Maybe the receiver opened your mind. Or maybe you had the ability the entire time and needed an emotionally-charged experience to force it into action. That’s what happened to me. A corner of her mouth lifted to smile but was quickly distracted.
Bennett thought about a possible trigger. It was the moment his innocence left and the desire for personal vengeance tarnished his soul—standing in the hall outside the abaddon deck, seeing Atana and Azure gone, witnessing another purge, and the workers floating out into space. He thought of the imperial ring.
Atana saw and heard everything, through Bennett’s mind, and the shredded burnt leather of his sleeve. She couldn’t fathom how she hadn’t caught on to it sooner.
Oh, no, Jameson! She reached up and swiftly unzipped his jacket, taking each side of his collar in hand.
His eyes popped open. Whoa, what are you doing?
His hands up, he tried to step back, only to find the bench and lapis boulder in his way. Atana pushed the fabric away gently, sliding it off his shoulders, being cautious of his right arm. Blood surged through his veins.
“Nakio,” he breathed, “stop.” Bennett closed his eyes, trying to forget what she was doing and block out the aching signals from his arm.
“You’re injured. Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded.
He caught his jacket and laid it across the rock. I didn’t want to worry anyone.
His heart rate, having elevated with her actions, crashed once again, crushed by the weight of inadvertent rejection. Atana gasped quietly, covering her mouth with a hand, when she saw the damage to his upper arm. The charred crinkles of exposed muscle and flesh had dripped fluids clear down to his wrist. His arm retracted from her fingers like they were hot pokers.
“Shit, Jameson.” She took off, running.
Bennett tracked her figure hustling along the rows, reaching down and picking a few leaves and flowers. Dizzy from his injury and recent hormonal drift, he sank to the wooden seat, releasing a breath. Atana returned within minutes, setting a few bundles of greenery on the boulder. From the hut, she brought out a mortar and pestle, a bowl of water, and a small, clay jar.
Sitting next to him, she rinsed the greens, grinding them into a pulp. Noticing his fading state, she paused, placing a hand over his heart. Her fingertips felt its rhythm weakening. Reaching around behind him, she helped him rest against the warm rock.
His eyes rolled shut. He grasped her hand, pressing it in against his chest. The throbbing in his arm was leaching up his shoulder and into his neck.
Hang on, Jameson. Gently taking her hands back, she mixed white paste from the jar into the mortar with the pulp, forming a gelatinous substance. I need you to take this off. She directed to his T-shirt. I will have to use it to wrap your arm for now. I couldn’t find any bandages.
I should get hurt more often around you. He chuckled, slipping his shirt off slowly from the weakness in his arm. Well, if I survive, I guess I will at least have an awesome scar.
