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It only took Calara a moment to realise that the 'cards were all gaping at her, and the attention instantly put her on edge. "What? What is it? Kei-va! I'm not moulting am I?" She ran her fingers quickly across the alien contours of her face,surprising Nathan by coming out of it with both eyes intact against the menace of those claws, and turned her eyes to Cooper for support. "You ..." Drew started bravely but was unable to followt hrough. "Yes? Yes?" Calara was getting really worried, to the point where she'd checked to see that the green and black scorpion suit she was wearing was actually there. "Well you're ..." Vanessa also failed to elaborate butmanaged to produce an indefinite hand signal. Calara repeated the vague hand waving uncertainly, then turned back to Cooper. "Am I?" Cooper was starting to look distinctly uncomfortable and Nathan was fairly certain he knew why. Suddenly a row of spines shotup along the top of Cal's head and down her spine into the collar of hersuit, and she began to make an alarming hissing, rasping noise. For a moment Nathan was terrified that Calara was going to attack Coop, the Invitro's words about the Secret jumping to mind. "Cal. Stop." Coopers tone was hurt and embarrassed, a voice that Nathan had heard more than once. Then in a flash of understanding Nathan saw what was happening.Cal wasn't threatening Cooper, she was laughing at him. She had seen that the 58th had been expecting a human and was overcome by the idea that Cooper hadn't told them. Leaning on one of the beds Calara made a valiant attempt to assert some sort of control over herself, but a look at the storm clouds gathering in Cooper's face was all that was needed to send her plummeting into hysterics. Once she had finally managed to regain some decorum Calturned to address the wild cards. "Hello. I am Calara of the Scorpion sept of the Drotherni. Cooper has made us all well aware of who you are, and I welcome you to the high citadel. "Cerberus said that you wanted to 'check up' on us. What exactly does that mean?" McQueen's tone stopped just short of being openly hostile. "You have my apologies colonel, for not explaining properly.I am a medic, a doctor. I wish to make a medical examination." "Is something wrong with us?" "No! At least nothing that I am aware of. In truth it is only you who I need to see. Examination of the others is primarily for my own peace of mind." She indicated that McQueen should lie on the bed infront of her and explained while she probed his ribs with her fingers. "I was responsible for your treatment when you pulsed in, and I wanted to be sure there were no problems before you get out and about this afternoon." "Tiak?" Nathan was surprised to hear the drothak word comingf rom Cooper, but he supposed in made sense. After all if he could read the language ... "Cooper," Calara's tone was amused, "The least you could do would be to say it in English. But yes, Xon confirmed it this morning. They are cleared for the entire Alpha section of the citadel.Thank you colonel, you're fine." The rest of the examinations went quickly, with Calara making a cursory exam, then presenting each of them with a translucent band which was fastened around their wrist. "When you come to an intersection of the corridors your Trakker will show you which way you should go to get back to this room. As long as you wear them you can't get lost." Cal explained. "How do we open the door?" Drew was visibly eager to get going. "Cerberus will do it for you if you ask him," the drothernreplied with a smile in her voice. "Could you drop into Med 3 in half an hour or so Cooper? I needto look inside your head." With that the 5-8's first Drothern left the room. In spite of Calara's assertion Nathan was lost. Cooper had taken him round the scenic route to see Cal, but when she said that the scan could take as long as three hours (a piece of news that Cooper wasn't happy to hear) Nathan had decided to have a look around on his own. Cooper could always find him later. He was now walking down a long corridor lined on both sides with shuttered windows. If he approached them the metallic covers would slide back to reveal what appeared to be gyms or training rooms, set into the ground so that the! tops of the windows were flush with the ceilings of the rooms he looked into. Every so often a ladder ran down through the floor to provide access to the doors leading into these rooms.As he approached the end of the corridor Nathan began to hear a singing voice, whose owner he found when the next set of windows opened in front of him. This training room had a single drothern standing in it's center who appeared to be performing some sort of whirling dance in time to the steady chant. "Hack and SLASH The last syllable of each line had an extra emphasis and was accompaniedby the throwing of what Nathan presumed to be a weapon of some sort, allof which hit dead center on the targets set up around the walls. This was one dance partner whose toes you definitely didn't want to stand on. On an impulse Nathan descended to the lower level, followed by the words of the Drothern's song. "Semper FI You and ME Once he'd figured out the drotherni door controls Nathan slipped into the room quietly, not wanting to disturb it's occupant. "Take your CHANCE The last throw was so swift that Nathan would never have seen it if it wasn't headed straight for him. By the time he realised what was happening it was far too late to do anything about it, and it was only through a small miracle that he survived. The glass sliver stopped suddenly,suspended only millimetres from his nose, and dropped to the floor. In the center of the room the drothern followed it, barely managing to stays table on hands and knees. Nathan's marine training pulled him free for the shock and he hurried to her side. "I'm sorry," the drothern told him as she took the handhe offered, "I was expecting my blood-brother." "You throw lethal weapons at all you family?" The drothern replied with the dry hiss he know recognised as laughter. "No, but Nadrak is much more skilled at anlai. He could have stopped it with his mind with less effort than it would have taken to dodge." "You must be Zodra then." Nathan recognised he brother'sname from Cooper's story. "Yes I am. You are Nathan West." "Cooper told you?" "He never stopped telling us. Especially over the last few days." They had come to the door and Zodra stooped to pick up the objectshe had thrown. "These are tangen. Hunting knives. They are a gift for Cooper."
The slice of glassy material she held was no thicker than a playing card and, excep t for a safe zone that covered about a third of it's area, all the edges were wickedly sharp. Even though the edges where she heldit were rounded, Zodra's movements were very careful as she deposited the knife in a box, seemingly custom built, that had been laying near the door. "Tangen can easily slice you to the bone if you handle them incorrectly, but they are more often lethal to their enemies than their owners." Zodra told him as they set off to retrieve the rest of the knives. Nathan had a horrible vision of his friend receiving the valuable gift and then bleeding to death on the floor. He shared it with Zodra. "No, there's no danger," the drothern assured him, "He only cut himself once during training and it takes most of us three or four trips to see Calara's medics before we can handle tangen properly. Cooper has been privately pining for a set ever since he first saw them.We thought tonight would be an appropriate time." "Why?" Nathan asked as she retrieved the last knife, "What happens tonight?" Zodra spun quickly, almost loosing the box, and looked at Nathanas if he were mad. "You really don't know, do you?" Nathan shook his head, wondering what it was that he was missing out on.
"Does he often do such stupid things out of sentiment?" Zodra was propelling Nathan through the corridors as fast as he could go, what tenuous sense of direction he had had was shattered. "I don't understand ..." "He feels very badly about your ... living conditions" Zodra interrupted. "Your presence here is his fault, but he didn'tt hink it through, didn't realise what the presence of outsiders would mean here, even if you are his trotha. When Nadrak told him about the decision he was ... upset. I have known many humans who were capable of getting very angry, but none who do so quite as explosively as our brother ..." "Brothe!?" Now it was Nathan's turn to interrupt. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say ... whatever it is you thinkI have. Many drothak words have no english equivalent" Zodra seemed at a loss for words. "It's OK. Go on." "He managed to do some considerable damage to his room and said things which none of us understand, but I don't imagine they were complimentary. Since then he has been ... difficult, I think he had hoped that our first meeting would be somewhat more relaxed. He had not mentioned the Vakorto either Nadrak or Xon in order to avoid causing more trouble." "But what is it?" Nathan finally asked the question thathad been plaguing him. "A ... ceremony." Zodra fell silent for a moment. "You have a special event, a ceremony, where warriors receive special awards?Yes?" "They're called medals" "Than this is like a medals" Nathan considered explaining what he had meant but decided that itwould be more trouble than it was worth. Shortly after Zodra brought them to a halt outside a closed door. "You must not be shocked by Xon's appearance." She toldhim, "There are some hurts even we cannot repair."
The room behind the door was large and quite luxurious, striking Nathan as more like a living room than anything he'd seen in the citadel. "I'm in the workroom, Zodra," a deep drothern voice called out before she had a chance to ask the question. "It's really very impolite to use your code to get into a private suite." Zodra rolled her eyes and beckoned for Nathan to follow. When Xon had said he was in a workroom, Nathan had envisioned a machine shop or maintenance bay like those back on Saratoga, not the plushly carpeted room filled with computerdisplays he walked into. Nor, despite Zodra's warning, had he expected to see the badly damaged drothern inside. Xon's left arm and both his wings had been crushed in some sort of accident, the bones in all three had obviously been broken in several places. The muscles surrounding them had atrophied,from lack of use during recovery Nathan guessed, leaving the limbs shrivelled and twisted. His right arm was missing altogether, and had been replaced by something that looked more like an appendage from an industrial robot than a replacement limb. When this arm moved it was shaky and imprecise. "Ah, the famous Nathan West. You'll forgive me if I don't shake your hand." "We won't stay long Xon," Zodra interrupted before Nathan could say anything, "I wanted to know if you could clear the 58th to be at Cooper's medals tonight." She must mean the Vakor, but I'm sure that's not the right word.You'll have to be more careful Nathan, most of our english is confusingenough already. Nathan froze, scanning the room for the source of the voice. Seeming busy talking to Zodra, Xon found the time to wink towards the confused marine. Don't let on. Zodra and Nadrak would have fits if they knew. Careful not to be seen Nathan mouthed his message over Zodra's shoulder. "How are you doing that?" The arm has a monitor in it, so I can control it directly with my mind, but it also enhances my other abilities. If you concentrate hard enough on forming your thoughts I should be able to hear them. "That's fine Zodra," Xon told her turning back to his screen."I process them when I'm finished here, they'll be cleared a couple of hours before it starts." By the time Nathan got back to the 5-8's room the others wer e already there, sitting casually on the beds and telling each other what they'd seen, with Cooper occasionally offering a story about what Zodra or Bolt had shown him on his first visits here. Dinner was earlier than they were used to and the usually generous portions were noticeably smaller. Cooper was morose and withdrawn during the meal, and Nathan would have bet money he knew why. He badly wanted to tell Coop that the wildcards would be at tonight's ceremony but Zodra's strict instructions kept his mouth shut. Apparently Teclis, who performed the operations on Cooper's brain was alsohere and the whole group of them would be a surprise. He didn't envy the drothern who would be telling his friend that the brainscan had been a ruse to allow Teclis to arrive unobserved.
Cooper excused himself shortly after he was finished his meal, and once he was safely gone Nathan told the others about the plans that he and Zodra had made for tonight. Calara and Zodra arrived shortly after along with a male drothern whose skin suit carried a stylised star design in place of the familiar scorpion. Introductions were quickly made, Teclis too knew them all by name thanks to Cooper, and the three drotherni led them impatiently through the corridors of the citadel. As they walked Nathan noticed a small triangle of jewellery attached to the Drotherni's foreheads.He asked Zodra what the engraving on them meant. "It is the symbol of a primus, the best at a certain disciplinef rom all the scorpion sept. I am the scout primus, Calara is our medic primus. Tonight Cooper will become hunter primus." "Wait a minute," Vanessa interrupted, "Coop's been with you guys for a few months and he's the best hunter you've got?" "Our system for ranking is somewhat different to yours. Whenever a position becomes vacant all members of that discipline with a lowerrank are allowed to try for it. Once all the entries are in the positions of those taking part are declared forfeit and the group compete against one another in a series of contests appropriate to their discipline. The overall winner receives the position they have all been trying for, second place claims the highest position that was held by one of the competitors,third place gets the next position down, and so on." "So in order to get a promotion you have to risk the chance that you'll go badly and be demoted?" It struck Nathan as somethingakin to the way silicates might organise themselves. "You could put it that way. Of course the contest isn't entirely fair, for a hunter strength is important but over a certain limit size becomes a disadvantage. As a human Coop as smaller and faster than most of his opponents, and because of his training was able to hold his own in the strength tests. On the other hand we have very few high ranking warriors that are human, as the main priorities are size and strength.In the end it balances out." "Do you have many humans here?" "About 200 in permanent residence, but most of our human friends are like Cooper, holding a rank and just dropping in now and again." "It's about time you got here!" Xon stood at the end ofthe corridor, an impatient look on his face. "We've been waiting for you, everyone else is here already." Xon opened the double doors behind him and led them into a huge roomf illed with drotherni in wildly colourful costumes. They were sprawled on cushions and sofas all across the huge hall, leaving only the raiseddais where Cooper stood free. Suddenly the flight suit Nathan was wearing seemed coarse and filthy. "Are you sure we're dressed right?" he whispered to Xon. "Look there, and there and there." One by one Xon's trembling arm pointed out three drotherni amongst the crowd who were wearing scorpionsuits, and finally nodded towards Cooper. " This is his moment, as he wears his skin-suit so do those who are closest to him, see how we stand out amidst all this colour? We stand with him by our clothing, even if we cannot stand with him up there.We thought that you would also want to do this." "Yes. Thank you." As Nathan replied a hush settled over the hall and all eyes turned to the upward. Gliding down slowly from the roof, using his wings as to guide him, was a male drothern who Nathan instinctively knew was Nadrak.He landed on the dais next to Cooper and began speaking in the strange sounds of drothak. Unable to understand the words Nathan felt impossibly alone amongst the sea of faces. He felt the need to talk to someone but knew that he shouldn't make a sound during Nadrak's speech. Then, latching onto to something Xon had said earlier, Nathan cleared his mind and concentrated on four words. Xon, What is he saying? The drothern turned towards him with a smile teasing the cornersof his mouth. Nothing much, I've never been to a human award ceremony, butI imagine official speeches are much the same no matter what language they are in. That bad huh? He's probably making up for tomorrow. He won't have a chance to make a speech when you leave. So soon? I thought Cooper said you needed to make all these calculationsfor the transfer pulse. Ordinarily yes, but Saratoga has remained in orbit around Sigma3, which strikes me as strange. That means that we can just reverse the pulse that brought you here, all the calculations are still in Cerberus'memory. Cooper will be coming with us. Nathan wasn't asking Xon, he was telling him. We thought that might come up. Of course Cooper's going with you,we have become his friends but you are his family, even if he is afraid to say so himself. To ask him to choose between us would tear him apart so we will not give him the choice, besides most of our human contacts have never been to Chitin, but are just as much a part of us as Cooperis. It is best that he goes with you. Nadrak's speech finally came to an end and Cooper dropped to one knee like some sort of ancient knight while Nadrak looped the triangle and it's small silver chain around his neck. Then Cooper stood and, throwing back his head, Nadrak let loose a loud trilling shout, to which Cooper added a howl that would have done any desert wolf proud. Soon the whole room had joined the cacophony, including a first-class marine war cry from the wildcards. Suddenly, as if on some invisible cue the hall fell silent.Waiting for something to break the stillness Nathan found himself counting the seconds. One. Two. Three. Chaos erupted.
Some time later it was Teclis' had on his shoulder that rescued Nathan from a wild, swirling group dance that could only be described as the mother of all conga lines. The big drothern led Nathan through the crowd to aring of cushions that Zodra had appropriated for the group. Vanessa and Shane greeted the weary marine and gave their glasses to Teclis when he offered to get more drinks. "Where are the others?" Nathan asked. In reply Shane merely pointed in the direction Teclis had headed.Turning Nathan smiled at the scene laid out before him. There was something strangely comforting about the sight of McQueen sitting alone at a bar nursing a drink, even if it was purple. "And Cooper?" "Nadrak and the other warriors convinced him to take part in a banek." Calara told him. "Xon's gone to rescue him, hopefully before he drinks himself senseless." Indeed, across the room Nathan could see his friend being led by the two drotherni. Cooper's shock at the 5-8's presence was visible, he hugged them all repeatedly, laughed wildly, and for an awful moment looked like he was about to cry. Nathan was beginning to suffer emotional exhaustion himself,he couldn't imagine what his seven year old friend was feeling. It wasn't until Teclis returned with drinks that Coop's jaw actually hit the floor.His mouth opened and closed several times before he gave up. "I ... I don't know what to say." It was the understatement of the year. "Don't say anything Coop," Nathan said as he took a drink from Teclis and passed it to the stunned InVitro, "You don't have to."
Somehow the seven of them managed to make their way back to their room, the incredible drotherni alcohol having taken it's effect, they all fell asleep immediately. As a result it took Nathan a few minutes, when he woke the next morning, to realise that the room's shaking was not all due to his hangover.
Cooper's eyes snapped open, his hands moving up to clutch the sides of his head. He rolled to one side and fell out of the bed, landing hard on the cold metal floor but not really noticing. His attention was held by the alarm which was coming in through his monitor and burning it's way up his arm into his brain, carrying screams and visions of death with it.The mental alarm was one of the worst ways to be woken up, and he thrashed wildly on the flood for a moment before he fully realised what was going on. Confirmed, Confirmed already! I'm up! The alarm receded into the background of his mind, barely there buts till brushing on his nerves. He was not in a good mood. Cerberus! What the hell is going on? Cerberus' response came several seconds later, disturbingly long to have to wait for the powerful computer. Prepare to receive status report. No Cerberus wait ... Cooper's thoughts came franticly but too late, and his eyes rolled backward into his head as Cerberus connected directly into his mind.
Another time, another place. A young InVitro is arguing with one of his newfound alien friends. "But why can't you just, I dunno, transmit it? Like a download or something? Why bother with words?" "We can Cooper, but it's an extremely difficult thing to do properly and very disturbing for the recipient to have the knowledge suddenly appear in their memory." "How?" "How what?" "How do you do it?" "Oh no, I'm not that stupid. It's not safe for you to even be thinking about a transfer, in fact very few humans ever do. You have to give yourself t ime to adjust to your monitor, you must have noticed how it affects your sight and hearing. Your nervous system's not used to being manipulated from the outside, if you push it too hard too soon you could end up with worse damage than you had when you came here. Much worse." "Come on Cal, I've got to do something or I'll go nuts. What'sthe use of having this thing if I can't do anything with it. Not that you guys ever let me out of the med center anyway." "Now that's nottrue. You were in the observatory yesterday, Bolt told me. He said you were farspeeking commands to the screens from across the room. When was the last time you did that with a human computer?" She was replied with a sullen silence "If you're getting into another of your moods then I'm going.There is one more thing though, as you recover further Cerberus may offer to transfer the results of your searches. I know you'll want to, but don't.For some rea! son Cerberus can't understand how badly humans react to it..."
Cooper's mind was dragged back to the present by Shane's voice, cool and calm as always. " ... hear me? Cooper? What's wrong with you?" "Rekerni," he moaned, still not fully conscious. "What? Coop you're talking nonsense." "Silicates," he repeated in english, "they're here." "Are you sure?" He nodded. "Cerberus is doing it's best with the orbitals, but I think some of them are getting through." As if on cue the ground shook violently, confirming Cooper's suspicions. "I'll wake the others," Shane slipped automatically intocaptain mode, "Can you find us a way off this dustball?" He began to nod but she had already moved off toward McQueen's sleeping form. Picking himself off the floor for the second time he sent his thoughts into the chaos outside the citadel. Nadrak? An ominous silence filled his mind. Zodra? No response Cal? Xon? Can anybody hear me? Calm down a little Cooper, Xon's voice banished the sudden unnamed fears that had arisen inside of him, I'm here. I can't find the others, what's happened to them? The Rekerni have managed to get a few transports through the orbital defence screen, so all the Cerberus components on the planet have startedto self destruct. Nadrak and the others went to take care of those fewships, so they're probably out of your range without the boosters. Xon we've got to get out of here. I know, Nadrak said ... Xon was cut off suddenly, returning a moment later but now somethingwas wrong. Cooper got the impression that Xon was farspeeking as loudlyas he could but even so he was barely audible, and threatening to dropout completely. Boosters inside ... giving out now. Your planes ... fourteen.Can you hear me? Bay ... teen. You have too get ... satellite seven. It'll be the last ... can pulse ... to Saratoga. Coop ... me? You're hardly coming through at all, but I think I got it. Planes in bay fourteen, pulse from satellite seven. Cooper was shouting into a gale of mental static, he had no idea weather Xon could hear him. Right. Do you ... path? I know the way. Good luck Xon. Go. Cooper opened his eyes to find the rest of the wildcards ready to go and looking in his direction expectantly. He let Drew help him to his feet and made his way to the door, the others following without a word.
The corridors of the citadel provided no indication of the battle that Cooper knew mus have been raging outside, except for a few black patches on the walls where devices with Cerberus circuitry had destroyed themselves and the disturbing mental static caused by the disintegrating boosters.He lead the others through the maze of corridors as quickly as he could without breaking into a run and, thanks to his InVitro memory and a little bit of luck, was able to bring them to the huge doors that marked the entrance to bay fourteen in only a few minutes. He tried commanding the doors to open with the monitor but there was no response. "We're going to have to open it ourselves," he told them as he broke the locking panel open and dug around in the sooty remains of it's intelligent circuitry for the release lever. The massive doors groaned deafeningly as they parted slightly and complained even louder as the marines applied themselves to widening the gap
At the same time as Cooper took his first steps into bay fourteen the last thought booster, buries deep in the bowels of the citadel, shuddered and expired in a cloud of black dust. For the first time since Zodra had contacted him on the 'Toga there was complete silence inside Cooper's head. He was also in an utterly black room, whose walls were so far off that the blackness seemed to swallow any sound the marines made. Combined with the sudden mind-silence the room managed to awaken fears of betrayal and abandonment that Coop thought the 5-8 had put to rest. He knew that his friends could be only a few meters away but the sharp senses that had saved his life on the streets of Philadelphia told him otherwise. He couldn't see them. He couldn't hear them. He couldn't ... "Ouch!" Drew's voice sprang out of the blackness, breaking Cooper's momentary panic. "Uh Coop? Does this place have lights?" Make light he ordered the monitor. Instantly it's whole surface lit up with light that was quickly channelled and directed into a beamthat was slightly brighter than a marine flashlight but with a smaller radius and a hint of blueish tinge. Cooper raised his arm from his side and directed the beam towards Drew's voice, to reveal that the young marine had narrowly missed walking into the ISSCV, but had made head contact with one of the numerous protrusions on it's surface. With the others laughter throwing off the last of his fear Cooper played the beam of light around the room, outlining each of the hammerheads in turn and finally coming to rest on an instrument panel. As the others prepared the planes for launch he moved over to the panel, which had been designed without Cerberus components in case of this eventuality. Unfortunately this meant that the monitor was next to useless and Cooper had to program the instructions by hand,not as difficult as it would have been on one of 'Toga's computers but annoying nonetheless. By the time he'd finished the simple program and gotten back into his cockpit the others were ready to get going. "How the hell do we get out of here?" Sara demanded asCoop ran through his pre-flight checks. "You'll find out in about fifteen seconds," he mumbled intent on his task. "I dunno what it's going to be like up there but once we've skipped the atmosphere you guys are gonna have to set your planes to follow me. The satellite that's gonna pulse us back is in pretty close,and it's only fifty-fifty that any of you will be awake on the other side."Suddenly the roof began to open like an iris, spilling a small but growing circle of sunlight onto the floor. In response the floor began to crawl up the walls and in a few seconds the wildcards found themselves outside,six hammerheads and an ISSCV on the roof of a huge enclosed city nestled among endless dunes. In the east, below chitin's massive merciless sun,the air was sullied by black smoke from the battle. "OK, let's not sit here gawking like tourists, which way is the satellite?" Shane's voice shook the 'cards from their contemplation of the impressive scenery. "Bearing 069 degrees, geostationary orbit about five klicks from here." Cooper told her, his monitor providing the information even before he had the chance to ask it. "So what are you waiting for? Move 5-8!" Having entrusted himself to the ISSCV's autopilot McQueen had little to do bar chewing them up for their lethargy. The flight passed quickly, the AIs too busy with the invasion to notice the small group of craft making their way into orbit. They were well within pulse range of the satellite when Cerberus made itself heard. Cooper. Cerberus? I didn't think there was enough of you left on chitin for farspeek. That is correct, this is coming through the satellite from a remote site. Are ! the wildcards prepared for transit? Yup. All the others are set to follow my plane, all you keep the window open long enough for us to get through. How are things going on chitin? I cannot tell exactly. Two Rekerni transports have attempted to escape back through the defence screen, so I expect they are being defeated.Before the terminal collapse of my components on chitin Xon requested thatany undamaged limbs found be delivered to him. I suspect he intends to replicate the technology in order to create a replacement limb similar to colonel McQueen's. He was very impressed with it. The council won't be happy The councils actions are difficult to anticipate. Cooper smiled. That was probably as close as he'd ever come to hearing Cerberus say that it didn't know. There is one more thing before you leave. By now McQueen has undoubtedlyfound a small bag on board your transport vehicle. It contains gifts from the primes, one for each of the wildcards, in secure capsules that arekeyed to your signal. OK, I'll make sure no-one gets hurt trying to open them. Prepare for transit. The pattern of stars outside his cockpit blurred and danced against their black background, before settling reluctantly into new positions. Checking his nav screen Cooper saw that they were on an escape trajectory from Sigma, as if they'd just taken off from the planet's surface, and were shielded from the 'Toga's LIDAR by the bulk of the planet itself.Twisting in his seat he saw that Sara and Nathan had come through conscious,the two of them flashing thumbs-up signals through their canopies. He turned to his comm panel to check on the others and was surprised to find that it had melted, reduced to a shapeless blob that sprouted a few LEDs at odd angles. He had no time to puzzle over this however as the docking bay doors of the Saratoga loomed large ahead of him.
"Did you see the looks on those tech's faces?" Sara asked as the three of them came into the 'card's wardroom. The familiarity of the place was causing a jubilant euphoria after the bizarre events of the last few days. "I can't exactly say I blame them. My panel was dripping all over the floor!" Nathan collapsed onto his bunk as he replied. Unlike Sara he wanted nothing more than to sleep for the next three weeks. "Does that always happen to electronics that get pulsed Coop?" "Nope. Cerberus must have done it on purpose, don't know why though." "I do." McQueen had returned from the med bay where hehad harassed the staff until they told him the other 'cards would be OK."A group of special investigators has been dispatched to find out why we were missing for a week. Cerberus has kindly provided us with somephysical evidence to account for the missing time. They're not completely convinced but no-one has the time for a full inquiry right now, so this will become another note on this unit's already colorful record."His tone gave no indication that the group had ever even left Saratoga." As a result I want none of the usual bragging and scuttlebutt about this mission. That means you'll have to keep yourselves to yourselves for a few days, not difficult seeing as we're being disciplined for our absence,and it means that you'll have to get rid of that dammed black band."The last remark was directed at Cooper, who held out his unbuttoned cuff to reveal a bare wrist, the monitor was back in it's usual hiding place. "Good. Now there's just one more thing to take care of ..."
Commodore Glen Ross stared at his colonel, the drink in his hand forgotten. "It did what?!" "It sank through my skin as if it wasn't there," McQueen repeated, "Here let me show you." He crossed the commodore's cabin and rolled back the sleeve of his uniform. The skin of his forearm was marked with a very faint crosshatched pattern, the only mark the drotherni gift had left when he allowed Cooper to apply it. "And it looked just like a metallic mesh?" "If it were a bit heavier I would have said it was perfect for making flexible armour," McQueen replied as he covered it up again."Hawkes says that the marks will fade in a day or two and then no-onewill be able to tell it's there, even metal detectors will be fooled." "That's too much Ty, you expect me to believe that you can carry a coil of metallic mash through a detector and not set it off?" "Hawkes has three of these sir." "Three?" Glen replied, thinking of how often the young marine passed through secure checkpoints without raising the slightest suspicion. "Yes, of varying functions" McQueen suppressed a smile,knowing how crazy the story sounded. "Oh. What does yours actually do then?" "According to Hawkes it's called a scrubber. It links into the blood vessels and cleans them of poisons and wastes, almost like a second kidney I suppose" "Fairly sophisticated for a lump of wire isn't it?" "I've given up on their technology sir, at least the Chig's gear is mildly recognisable." "Still, alcohol's a mild poison isn't it?" Ross smiledas he refilled his glass. "Are 58th squadron about to become tee totallers?" "No sir. Hawkes has demonstrated that he is more than able to get drunk when he wants to, but since his visit to the drotherni he seemsto be less prone to hangovers" McQueen let the news hang in the air. "I see. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle a unit that can drink as much as they like without suffering the consequences. I'll be relying on you to keep them in line." "Yes sir." "SO, are these things common in drotherni society?" The commodore leaned back in his chair restoring a more informal feel to the room. "Yes sir, pretty much all of the drotherni have a small complement of these things performing various functions for them and all of the scorpion's human friends have them as well, at least scrubbers and in some cases more advanced models." "I see. That's what we are now is it? These aliens' human friend's?" "I certainly hope so sir, I'd hate to have them as my enemies." © Dylan Humphries 1997
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