Chapter 314: (Telkan) (2/2)
”I will need to return here tomorrow,” the Terran female said. ”I would prefer that you bring me. Taking a different lifter and lifter pilot out here may disturb what I am attempting to do.”
Halna'atik frowned. ”What are you doing, if I might ask?”
”You may not,” the Terran female said, her voice suddenly heavy with authority.
”Oh,” Halna'atik felt a cold chill go down her spin and curled her short tail protectively.
The ride back was silent. The Terran female hired a driver to take her to a hotel, where she paid with the unmarked card, went to her room, and did not exit until just before dawn.
Four more times the Terran female, looking as perfect and unruffled as ever each time, hired Halna'atik to take her out to the same spot each time. Each time she was gone for several hours and returned just before sunset.
By the fifth time Halna'atik was waiting in her grav-lifter.
Each time was the same. Arrive, wait, return.
Out of curiosity Halna'atik looked the region up.
Some of the fiercest fighting of both First and Second Telkan had happened out there. Most of it was behind Telkan governmental security locks.
It was one of the first places on the continent that the Elven Queens had started work on.
On the fifteen day, Halna'atik was shocked when there was a tapping on her side window. She whipped her head around from her datapad to the window.
The Terran woman, Ms. Smith, stood there, her face serious. Halna'atik slid the window to the side.
”Are you armed?” Ms. Smith asked.
”No, why?” Halna'atik asked.
”I must ask again, Pilot, are you armed?” the Terran female asked.
”No. What is going on?” Halna'atik asked.
”I must ask a third time, so that my duty is done. Are you armed?” the Terran asked.
”No!” Halna'atik said. She stopped herself from yelling. ”Should I be?”
”No. I need you to gather about you your professionalism and detachment. You will be flying a passenger and myself to Fort Menvax,” the Terran said.
”Passenger?” Halna'atik asked.
”Yes. I found him and convinced him to come with me. Please, do not speak to him unless he speaks to you. Keep your voice calm. He is very easily startled,” the Terran female said.
”All right. I'll unlock the side door for the passenger compartment,” Halna'atik said.
”Very good. I thank you,” the Terran said. ”Please get ready for flight.”
Starting up the grav-lifter, Halna'atik watched as the Terran female went back up to the forest, standing in front of some brush and ferns. To Halna'atik it looked like she was talking to someone further back in the woods.
She gasped when the forest suddenly moved and then dissolved into a large, heavily muscled Terran in tattered rags.
The Terran female reached out and took the figure's hand. Halna'atik realized that part of the Terran male's face was torn away, revealing a black metal skull. The other hand was exposed cybernetics, the cybernetics in the torso were exposed. The Terran had moss growing here and there on his flesh.
She could actually see the artificial organs and the tubes and cables.
The Terran female walked him slowly up to Halna'atik's grav-lifter. The male flinched away from it and Halna'atik saw an expression on the Terran male's face that she had never seen on a Terran's face before.
Fear.
The Terran female lifted up their clasped together hands, talking too soft for Halna'atik to hear. After a moment she helped him up into the passenger compartment.
Halna'atik noticed that the flesh on his back was completely missing, exposing black metal ribs and pieces of machinery.
Halna'atik flew them back, heading for the Joint Services Military Base.
There was a clink over her headset.
”Please request permission to enter the airspace and to land at the Netile'ek Military Medical Center,” the Terran woman said softly. ”Your vehicle system identification number is already logged.”
”Yes, ma'am,” Halna'atik said.
It felt like a 'ma'am' moment.
Permission was granted. As Halna'atik brought in the grav-lighter down on the big helipad she noted that there was a full medical team standing by.
”Please stay in the vehicle and await my return,” the Terran female said as the grav-lifter landed.
”Yes, ma'am,” Halna'atik said.
Halna'atik watched as the male Terran got out, holding tight to the female's hand. He flinched back from the medical team when they began to approach. She held on to his hand, patting him, rubbing the little bit of flesh that remained over his shoulder blades, and Halna'atik could tell she was speaking to him in soothing tones.
After a long moment the male allowed himself to be helped up onto a gurney.
The doctors surrounded him and they wheeled him into the hospital.
The female Terran stood there for a long moment, then turned back to Halna'atik, slowly moving over and getting in.
”I would prefer to go back to my lodging,” the female Terran said.
Halna'atik noticed the crisp authoritative tone sounded more tired.
”Yes, ma'am,” Halna'atik said.
The female Terran leaned back and closed her eyes as Halna'atik lifted off, following the air traffic control directions till she left the airspace of the military base. She looked over as they flew through the darkness and noticed that the eye shadow around the female Terran's eyes glowed softly in the dark.
”I will drop you off at the hotel,” Halna'atik half-offered.
”That would be appreciated,” the Terran female said.
”Are you all right?” Halna'atik asked carefully.
”I am very tired. It has been a stressful two weeks. I was worried, at the end,” the Terran female said.
”Worried?” Halna'atik asked. ”He looked like he was barely able to move.”
The Terran woman chuckled. ”Looks are deceiving. He is in great pain.”
”Oh,” Halna'atik said. They flew silently for a little while.
”I will need to retain your services again,” the Terran woman said, without opening her eyes.
”Very well,” Halna'atik said. ”For how long?”
”I have sixteen more names on my list, sixteen places to search, on this part of the continent alone,” she said.
She sounded exhausted.
”Are they dangerous?” Halna'atik asked after a long moment of silence.
”Yes. To themselves more than anyone else,” the Terran female said. ”They are often confused, always in pain, and many times, reliving the same event over and over.”
”Who are they?” Halna'atik asked.
”The living dead,” the Terran female said.
Halna'atik's hand bobbled on the stick.
”It is my duty to find them. To mark them for recovery if they are asleep, to convince them to come back, to let go of the moment of their deaths, if they are awake. My father, Charon, has sent me to collect them,” the Terran female said softly. She turned and looked at Halna'atik. ”We are sisters now, you and I.”
The Terran closed her eyes and was silent the rest of the trip. When Halna'atik landed the Terran female got out, turning to close the door.
”Ma'am,” Halna'atik said.
The Terran paused.
”I'll meet you here an hour before dawn,” the Telkan said.
The Terran nodded.
”Rest well, sister,” Halna'atik said softly, seeing if the human's words had really carried the weight they had.
”You as well, sister,” the Terran said, and closed the door.
Sixteen more, Halna'atik thought to herself as she lifted off. Sixteen more just in this area.
She landed her lifter and got out slowly.
She took the time to sweep the moss, leaves, fern fronds, and the dirt from the passenger compartment of her grav-lifter.
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The morning was dark, clouds heavy in the sky in the pre-dawn darkness, the threat of rain hanging over the world.
The grav-lifter set down in the parking lot of the modest hotel only a few miles from the airfield.
The female Terran stood, her suit immaculate, her eye shadow glowing softly in the darkness. Once the grav-lifter set down, she got inside.
”Good morning, sister,” Halna'atik said.
”To duty, sister,” the female Terran said. She touched the datapad. ”Here is the coordinates.”
The grav-lifter rose into the air and vanished into the darkness.
Citizenship is a heavy burden.