Tassie sat in front of the holoscreen on the ship nervously as she waited for Irric to answer her call. It had been several days since she’d lost contact with him. At first, she’d thought that he was merely running late when he’d missed their scheduled call. An hour or two of delays she could accept without worry – four days, not so much.

  It didn’t help that every other time she’d tried to contact him she’d gotten no answer. By this point, she was calling out of habit without expecting any response. She startled when the call finally connected. Hope swelled from within only to be immediately dashed when Commander Cyrix’s face appeared onscreen instead of Irric’s.

  “Commander,” she sputtered upon seeing him, “where’s Irric? Why are you the one answering his data slate?” Cyrix’s face was grim, and his eyes were hard as he studied her without speaking for a long moment, the scrutiny unsettling.

  “There’s been an incident,” Cyrix said finally. “Irric is currently in the hospital and is unable to answer your calls.”

  Tassie’s eyes widened. “What happened? Is he okay? Please tell me it’s nothing serious.”

  “He was attacked while transporting his most recent discovery to the flagship for safekeeping and was knocked out with a very potent sedative. He’s still unconscious. I’ve been informed that he should wake up soon. Apart from a few bruises, he’s alright,” he said. Tassie let out a sigh of relief as the Commander continued speaking. “I’ve got something to inform you of. Your latest attempt to crack the Highest’s terminal worked – partially.”

  She jumped. After months of futile work and hundreds of attempts, the last thing she was expecting was to hear that she’d been successful. “You mean it actually worked?” Tassie gaped. Recovering from her shock, her mind spun with possibilities. Until it caught up with Cyrix’s words. “What do you mean by partial?”

  “You were only able to succeed in opening a drawer. The rest of the terminal remains encrypted.”

  “And whatever was in that drawer caused Irric to get attacked?”

  “That’s right,” Cyrix nodded. “What I’m about to tell you is strictly classified. You are not permitted to discuss this except with me, Nessah, Irric and the Tribunal. If it weren’t for the fact that we needed you to repeat your success, I wouldn’t even be telling you this.”

  Dread filled her as she thought about what might have been discovered that warranted such a reaction. She knew certain things were kept from her and the only one she’d had to pull teeth to learn about was – Tassie gasped. Instantly, she felt sick. “We found them,” she breathed. She prayed to the gods that she was wrong but knew deep down she wasn’t. Still, she forced herself to ask. “You found the chemicals – really found them – didn’t you?” Her heart leapt to her throat as she waited for the answer.

  “Yes,” he said, regret filling his voice. “Those vile things exist,” he spat. “We’ve secured them for now, but it was a near thing. I don’t know how somebody found out about them, but Irric was attacked while bringing them back to the flagship.”

  Tassie almost threw up. “Did it get stolen?”

  “Not that we could tell, but we’ll need to wait for Irric to wake up to confirm if the amounts are the same or not.”

  “We put it out there for the world to find – I put it out there.” Tassie felt herself grow light-headed as her world spun. “Do you know for sure that none of it was stolen?”

  “No,” Cyrix admitted. “I pray to the gods that none was.” Even though he knew the samples to be secure, he worried constantly about their safety. He couldn’t help but feel as though it wasn’t enough. Shaking off the thoughts, he focused on the soldier before him, noting that she didn’t look good. “You’re not the one who created such a thing, it was the gru’ul,” he said gently, trying to reassure her.

  She rubbed her face in her hands, brushing away her tears and taking a deep breath. “I’m still partly responsible for their discovery. As if learning their molecular structure wasn’t enough, we had to go and actually find them!”

  Cyrix couldn’t keep the grimace off of his face at her words. “The best we can do now is safeguard them with everything we have.”

  “How will you do that?”

  “That’s classified, even to you.”

  Tassie nodded. “I understand. The less people that know about their whereabouts, the better. Do you know who was behind the attack on Irric?”

  “I have my suspicions, but I’ll keep those to myself,” Cyrix said sharply. “What’s the purpose of your call?”

  “I wanted to check in with Irric since I hadn’t heard from him in several days, which is very unlike him.”

  “His data slate has been in my possession since the attack. I couldn’t risk anybody having access to the information he has on it. I need you to ensure that it wasn’t tampered with between the time he got attacked and the time he was rescued.”

  She frowned. “That’s not going to be easy to do from here. Do we have a secure enough connection for me to access his data slate remotely?”

  “Are you able to set one up from the ship? We can’t afford for anybody to steal any data.”

  Tassie chewed her lip, deep in thought. “It should be. It won’t be an instant affair, but I’ll be able to secure the connection if I have a bit of time.”

  “See to it and call me back once you’re ready to begin looking over the data slate,” Cyrix ordered. “I need to know that absolutely nothing happened to this data slate during the attack.”

  Tassie gave a weak salute. “Understood.” The Commander ended the call, leaving her alone in the bridge as the reality of what they’d discovered this time came crashing down on her. Scenes from Adrian’s video replayed in her mind as the horrifying screams resounded in her ears. Guilt filled her for the part she had played in releasing the chemicals out in the world, acutely aware that they were what had caused Reya and Adrian to suffer beyond anything she could ever imagine.

  Adrian’s screams were replaced with what she imagined Reya’s would have sounded like had she watched her video instead. It took her a long moment before she was ready to move, eager to get off the ship and get some fresh air.

  Stepping off the ship, Tassie took a deep lungful of air, the comforting scent of the grass in the clearing where she’d parked it reassuring to her. With shaky steps, she made her way back to the house, intending to inform the others not to bother her anytime soon.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  It was quiet inside when she opened the door. No one was in the kitchen nor was anybody in the living room. Wandering over towards the music room, she heard faint voices from the other side of the closed door. She knocked on the door and opened it. Three sets of eyes stared back at her.

  Adrian was in the middle of giving yet another language lesson to Reya and Stanley and Tassie had interrupted. Her eyes flicked towards the scar on Reya’s face and guilt filled her. “I can come back later,” she stammered, the words caught in her throat.

  Adrian shrugged. “It’s fine, you’re not bothering us by coming to see us. If anything, we could use a little break.”

  Reya studied her friend, noting her pallid complexion and odd expression. “Tassie, is everything alright?” Tassie startled at the question, her reaction causing Reya to frown and share a look of concern with Adrian.

  “Everything’s fine,” Tassie replied too quickly, failing to put her friend at ease. The doubt Reya openly displayed made her panic. “I mean it,” she added hastily. She could tell that the others weren’t buying it, but mercifully they didn’t press further. “I came to let you guys know not to bother me for the next couple of hours. Have you seen the others? I want to tell them as well.”

  “Why don’t you just use your comms to contact them?” Reya asked.

  Tassie blinked. She hadn’t thought of that in her haste to distance herself from the news she’d received from the Commander. “I needed a bit of a break,” she deflected lamely.

  “It hasn’t been that long since you went to go work with Irric,” Reya pointed out. Tassie grew nervous, hoping that her friend wouldn’t press further lest they risk figuring it out on their own. Adrian spoke up, saving her from further scrutiny.”

  “You’re not looking too hot right now,” he said. “Why don’t you take a real break and rest a little bit – maybe have a snack and something to drink.”

  “I’ll pass on the snack,” Tassie shook her head. “I don’t have the time to take a very long break. I need to get back to work soon. I’ll take you up on the comm idea though. Makes my life easier.” She contacted the others and informed them that she was not to be bothered until she returned from the ship. Once she was done, she spared one last glance at the others in the room before booking it back to the ship.

  “That was odd,” Reya muttered.

  “Whatever it is, she clearly doesn’t want to talk about it right now,” Adrian shrugged.

  “Something must have happened when she went to contact Irric.”

  “I think we should leave her be, she’ll tell us when she’s ready – if she even can. I’m not even sure I want to know what happened if it’s enough to put her in that state.”

  Stanley had remained silent throughout the entire affaire, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to follow the conversation. That didn’t stop him from observing the small group converse, their body language very telling. He strained his ears, trying to pick up what few words he could understand. Given that he’d hardly understood a thing apart from the most basic of words, he didn’t learn much about what they were speaking about. “Did something happen?” he asked Adrian.

  “I’m not entirely certain,” Adrian replied coldly. “I don’t think it’s anything you should worry about.”

  “But what did the other one want? Her name was Tassie, right?”

  “She let us know not to disturb her until further notice.”

  “What’s she doing that’s so important?”

  Adrian shrugged. “Not a clue. She wouldn’t answer even if I asked. We should get back to work. I want you to at least be somewhat proficient in their language, if only so I don’t need to translate every little thing.”

  Reya watched the exchange, fascinated. Ever since Stanley had come, she’d had the chance to truly hear what Adrian’s language sounded like. The thought of being able to speak it and understand him better lit a fire under her. Already, she could discern some of the more basic words that Adrian had lovingly taught her.

  A stark contrast to the veiled anger he had when he spoke with Stanley. While she pitied the situation the man had found himself in and what he’d gone through, she wasn’t ready to forgive him for ruining Adrian’s only chance at escaping more experimentation and being subject to the purple chemical.

  No amount of forgiveness would ever make up for that.

  Rage filled her at the thought of the beings that had brought such a thing into existence and used it on people. On Adrian. On her. Yet deep down she knew it to be nothing more than a veneer concealing her fears of being subject to the orange chemical again.

  “Reya,” Adrian called, snapping her out of her thoughts, “would you like to continue your lessons?” She nodded eagerly, glad for the distraction before her memories of what had happened to her resurfaced. Stanley was left to his own devices to memorize her language’s alphabet while Adrian came closer and continued where they’d left off.

  One letter at a time, Reya diligently learned the English alphabet and copied them down on a piece of paper in front of her. Adrian had painstakingly copied each letter out for her to reference, ensuring that she would be able to see the letter as intended rather than what his handwriting showed. The result left her slowly crafting her own penmanship in English in a style that differed from Adrian’s.

  Pleased with her work, she continued while Adrian went back to help Stanley, keeping an ear out for any words or translations she might recognize. Several hours passed until finally Stanley declared that he needed a break. He excused himself and went to the washroom.

  Adrian came up from behind her and wrapped her in his arms, giving the top of her head a gentle kiss as he did so. Reya turned around in her chair and looked at him expectantly. Smiling, he leaned in and gave her a tender, passionate kiss. When they parted, he spoke up. “Are you enjoying your lessons so far?”

  “I’m loving every second of it,” she responded, her eyes sparkling with delight. “Thank you for taking the time to teach me. I can’t wait to be able to have a proper conversation with you in your language. Soon I’ll be able to understand your songs.”

  “You could sing them with me,” he mused. There was nothing more in the world – apart from Reya – that he loved more than his music. The thought of being able to share his passion with the woman he loved filled him with a boyish eagerness.

  Reya broke from his hold on her and stretched, taking a long moment to work out the kinks in her back from sitting at the desk for so long. She took his hands and stood up. “Maybe we could practice a bit right now?” He flipped her left hand over and checked her fingertips. They were still healing from her playing them raw. With a critical gaze, he inspected her.

  “Alright, but I don’t want you pushing yourself too hard. It’ll be a short practice today. I don’t want you to split your fingers again. We’ll take it easy.”

  She smiled. “That’s fine by me. You teaching me music almost feels like I’m learning another language on top of the one you were just teaching me.”

  Adrian chuckled. “Let’s get to it then.” His eyes narrowed and he glanced at the door, cocking his head. He heard somebody coughing – and it didn’t sound good.

  Seeing him frown suddenly “What is it?”

  “Somebody’s coughing and I’m pretty sure it’s coming from the bathroom. I think it might be Stanley.”

  “Is he sick?” Reya asked, worried that the others might catch whatever alien virus he might have. She was relatively certain Adrian would be fine if it originated from his home planet but didn’t want him taking any chances.

  “I’m not sure – I’ve heard him cough before. He claimed it was from having the substance that filled our pods still in his lungs. Which is odd, because I don’t remember having that reaction to it. I was mostly fine after coughing it up.”

  “Should we wait a bit to see if it gets worse or should we have Kell take a look at him?” she said. Adrian hesitated, fear flashing in his eyes at the suggestion. His grip on her hands tightened involuntarily.

  “I don’t know,” he stammered. “What happens when Kell starts studying him? I don’t know how much they’ll find and what answers about the experiments performed on me back on Earth. I might be having a hard time being around him, but I’m not sure I want him to risk dying over something that was done to him against his will.”

  “We can wait and see if he’s actually sick. If he is, then we’ll be able to spot if it looks like he’s doing worse.”

  Adrian sighed. “Then we’ll have knowingly let him get worse and risk whatever he might have spreading to the others. I don’t hate them. I haven’t seen your medical technology yet, but I’m certain it far surpasses my world’s. I’ve seen things considered fantasy there that are real here – you must have the means to cure him if he truly is sick.”

  Reya pursed her lips. “I’m not sure what we’d be able to do if human physiology is different than a’vaarian physiology. That would require the others to need to study him in depth in order to make sure there’s nothing wrong with him. What if we asked Stanley directly about his health rather than jump the gun?”

  Adrian thought over their options one by one. “Let’s talk to him when he gets back,” he said finally. “We can decide what to do after we see what he has to say.”