Links to other sites on the WebAs Goddard was beginning to suspect, the UPPs files on Warlord Kzar were cognizant with the information they had received. "Now that the preliminaries are out of the way," Goddard said when all was done two hours later, "We can get down to business and help Elmira. Mr. Band, steer us into Docking Bay 24!"
Once docked, everyone was eager to stretch their legs and explore their first tolerant Spung trading station. "We don't want to attract too much attention," Goddard warned his crew. "Who knows who'll be watching us from those crowds? Mr. Radu and I will go out alone."
Everybody, even Rosie, had a complaint to make on the order but Radu, still affected by the vision, seemed to hear nothing as he followed the commander out onto the docking bay.
In the bay Kzar, decked in a body suit, rushed to meet them. "I'm embarrassed to relay the fear of catching the Disease from my niece," he said sheepishly. "But if your human is right about our difference in body temperament you won't be needing suits." He eyed Radu wearily. "Though I do suggest wearing a hat. There are a lot of Spung citizens on board who are not ready to accept…"
"I understand," Radu said stiffly and accepted the hat Kzar offered.
Goddard may not have wanted publicity but the sight of the founder of the station walking in a body suit was enough to turn eyes. Radu thought that infinity had passed when they finally reached the room where Elmira was kept. When the doors opened, Radu drew back in shock.
Elmira lay limp in bed, looking pale and fragile among her thick pillows and blankets. Her skin tone had gone from a deep green to a light gray and she was sweating horribly.
"Elmira!" Radu rushed to her immediately, stroking her dampened scales.
Elmira's eyes fluttered open and she turned a thick gaze on the Andromedan. "Radu…" she whispered so quietly that even he had to strain to hear. "I knew you'd come."
Goddard and Kzar stood apart from the pair. "I assume Shank's not coming back any time soon to disrupt our plans." And vaporize the Christa.
Kzar shook his head assuredly. "The Council spends weeks to months bantering over tactical procedures and such. Shank is always one of the last to leave, you know, making sure his words have a big impact."
"So you're saying we have a month or two to cure Elmira?"
"I believe so. And I can always distract Shank if you need more time." A grin spread across his face. "If I could delay my mandatory martial training as a boy I can certainly distract my brother."
It was Radu who carried Elmira back to the Christa. He was the strongest of the bunch and Elmira felt the most comfortable with him. Every time he stepped away, the girl went into spasms. Elmira's unconscious desire for Radu was beginning to show through her delusional state.
Even though the consensus was that Andromedans were safe from the Disease Radu wore coverings over his arms and chest. As he walked down the corridors he became more and more thankful for the hat squeezed firmly on his head. An Andromedan carrying a Spung princess out of a killcruiser surely wasn't an image the universe was ready to accept.
"Rosie!" Radu called into his comlink upon entering the Christa. "Get the medlab ready; I'm bringing her down."
"Right," Rosie said with medical authority. "Bova and Suzee are researching reptilian diseases. Ms. Davenport's giving Harlan a tutoring session."
Faintly, Radu could hear the young pilot's mutterings and Davenport's chidings. The Andromedan grimaced. Even schoolwork seemed preferable to standing by Elmira at this time. He couldn't bear to see her die.
"Set her on the table," Rosie instructed, looking with a mix of shock and sympathy at the broken down Spung body.
Radu turned to move away but Elmira shuddered, croaking out her first words since those in her quarters. "Radu… p-please stay with me." She held out a shaking claw.
Feeling like he was about to break down himself, Radu gingerly took her claw and stood at the opposite side of the table from Rosie.
The Mercurian was running the scanner across Elmira's body. "Uh… we have a problem here."
"Really?" Radu asked sardonically then clamped up when he saw Rosie's reaction.
She recovered quickly. "Elmira's inner systems are perfectly intact but I'm picking up some microscopic bugs on her skin… I'd better research this."
"Wait!" Radu grabbed Rosie with his free hand. "Can't you make Suzee or Bova do it? Or Harlan? You're the medical consultant around here; Elmira needs you."
Rosie glowed under the compliment but her reply was soft. "Thank you Radu," she said. "But I think the best medication for her at this time is you."
Rosie only needed look at Bova and Suzee's findings to ascertain what the specs were. Upon re-entering the medlab, the Mercurian was panting after absorbing all this new information. "Turns out these specs are called mites, the same thing that made reptiles go sick on Earth. Harlan was right; they can't hurt any of us." She paused for effect. "And there's a way to cure Elmira."
Radu nearly turned as pink as the young medic. "I…I…" his joy could not be expressed in words.
"Humans gave procedures on how to cure the reptiles," Rosie continued. "They're pretty primitive but Suzee assumes that's because reptiles died out so long ago. But there were different types of reptiles that had to be treated differently." She collected some breath. "According to the information Bova found, Elmira biologically resembles a lizard. So we'll use the procedures listed for lizards to cure Elmira."
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Radu could finally cry out. "Start the procedures so we can save her!"
"We already have," Rosie responded, moving off toward her bottled chemicals. "Thelma is regulating the Christa's water to be just right- 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile I have to make a povodine iodine solution which will kill the mites. Put these together- Elmira's cure is a bath. Miss Davenport and Suzee offered to help me bathe her. We're gonna do it in a metal bin in one of the Christa's storage rooms- it'll have to be fumigated once we're through, the medlab too. She'll have to be checked for the reappearance of mites within the next month."
"How long will it take for her to recover?"
Rosie shrugged, dropping her medical tone for a more cheerful one. "Probably about one or two days. Fortunately she contacted you early on in the Dreaded Disease, so her body's not all that eaten up by mites. So try to take it easy Radu; everything's gonna be fine!"
It took a lot of willpower for Elmira to accept that she'd have to be parted from Radu for her bath. As the girls struggled over her body spasms Radu tried to comfort her. "I don't want to embarrass you by being in there," he said softly. "Besides, I'll be able to hear if anything goes wrong."
Elmira tired and Rosie, Suzee and Miss Davenport were able to drag her into the storage room.
Goddard touched Radu lightly on the shoulder as the doors closed shut. "Why don't you join Bova, Harlan and me in the galley?" he suggested. "It would do you good to relax with some food."
"Yes sir," Radu mumbled.
The only one who ate in the galley was Bova. "All that research tired me out!" he proclaimed while dehydrating dish after dish.
Harlan and Goddard sat supportively around Radu. The young Andromedan looked stonily at the table, belittling himself for his attitude. Hadn't Rosie said that Elmira was going to be all right? Wasn't she being cured as they sat?
Harlan also pondered through these things but handled them with considerably less patience. "Stop moping around!" he finally exploded. 'The drama's over; Elmira's gonna be OK."
"Mr. Band…" Goddard warned but Radu cut him off.
"It's just… we're so close… the shock of it all still hurts." Strange how he could not admit this until now. He cared for Elmira with more intensity he knew he'd possessed. Ignoring the humans he cast his hearing down to where the girls were soaking Elmira in the healing liquid.
Kzar came to visit during the next few days but Rosie insisted the young Spung princess stay on board the Christa until she was fully recovered. Indeed, with the daily povoine iodine bath and lots of sleep, Elmira was surely regaining her color and strength. Each day Kzar greeted his niece with the same gratifying news; "Shank isn't back yet nor has he inquired about you." It began to strike Elmira as sadistic that she wasn't surprised that she'd survived a fatal disease without her father being none the wiser.
After Kzar left, Radu would come in. The two close friends would talk about anything from past experiences to comical jokes. Elmira knew that the Andromedan was too tense to talk about the Disease but after a few days, the girl could hold out no longer.
"Radu?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks. Thanks for coming."
Radu paused for a moment. "I owed it to you, Elmira. I… care about you." The words were spoken with such intensity that it left both of them speechless.
Suzee and Bova's findings dictated that a consecutive week of the bathing treatment should take place after the mites were found. Seven days after Elmira came on board showed seven days of no mites on the Serola's scans and Rosie deemed her well enough to rejoin her uncle. As Thelma and Suzee fumigated the storage room for the last time Elmira asked Radu to meet her in the medlab.
When the Andromedan entered, Rosie looked up from the final scans and graciously exited the room. Radu stood by the door, realizing for the first time how well Elmira had gotten. It was a sure sign that he'd lose her again.
"Radu," Elmira beckoned him in. "I feel the need to tell you why I want to go back to my uncle's care instead of being here with you. Besides for the fact that it's dangerous for you to stay here when my father might be back soon. It has to do with the Dreaded Disease. There's a tribe of my people… the Scuff… who are forced to work as slaves in unsanitary conditions."
Radu stood back, appalled. The last case he'd heard of a race enslaving their own kind involved humans in the ancient 19th century.
"I felt the same way when I heard about it," Elmira said, noting Radu's expression. "Especially since our government doesn't care that more of them die from the Dreaded Disease every day. But my uncle cares." She took a deep breath. "I can't stop the crime of slavery. If my uncle refuses to treat the Scuff this way, he'd be in jail and the Scuff would still be slaves… or dead. But I can help them. Rosie's letting me take the data she recorded from my illness and Suzee and Bova are letting me take their findings." She held up the computer chip, loaded with this information, for emphasis. "If I could teach the doctors on my uncle's ship how to cure the Disease I could save thousands of lives! It would be my greatest accomplishment ever!"
"That's great Elmira!" Radu congratulated her. "But don't you think your doctors wouldn't want to treat 'lesser beings'?"
"Not on Kzar's ship," Elmira answered with confidence. "Doctors are like warriors here; they follow directions. Kzar's a warlord; they'd be too frightened to disobey."
"Well great!" Radu's next thoughts came out in a rush. "You just amaze me, Elmira. You're a suppressed Spung female yet you manage to really change the galaxy for the better."
"Well what about you?" Elmira shot back with praise. "You're a lost Andromedan misfit but you change the galaxy for the better too. Without your help, I would have died!"
"I couldn't bear that," Radu said softly.
Judging from the acceleration of her heartbeat, the Spung princess had heard him. "Walk with me to the airlock," she said quietly. "While I say goodbye to the rest of the crew."
Radu complied, taking her claw into his hand. Rosie had already assembled the rest of the crew near the airlock. Elmira walked down the line, saying a special goodbye to everyone but Radu never left her side. When the pair got into the airlock, she turned to face him.
"Radu," and suddenly her voice was uncertain. "Remember when Rosie found the mites and left us alone so she could research them?"
"Yes."
"We didn't talk, Radu. I was probably too sick to do so but the actual reason why I didn't was because I was having a vision. About us."
Radu's heart started to beat faster. "What did it say?"
"I can't remember," Elmira admitted. "But I'll never forget the way it made me feel. Calm. At peace… In love."
As Radu stood speechless Elmira leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Our destiny is together Radu. Will you stay true to me until our destiny becomes reality?"
"Yes," Radu promised. "You can trust me." And he in turn kissed a scaly cheek.
Elmira gave him one last smile and watched the outer doors of the airlock open.
As she stepped out Kzar turned to stare at her. "Elmira! You look… so good! How could I have not noticed it on the alien ship? This is amazing!"
"I guess it is," Elmira said sadly, watching the Christa take off.
Three weeks later Kzar burst into his niece's quarters. "Elmira… sorry to disturb your slumber but I just got word. Your father's coming to pick you up tomorrow."
Elmira could only accept the truth glumly. The last three weeks of calm and relaxation were over. At least destiny allowed enough time for me to finish my daily mite scans, she reasoned. The month is over and all treatment for the Disease is officially over. But that did not change the fact that she was going back to slave for her father.
Warlord Shank's personal transport shuttle re-docked into Docking Bay 7. Elmira and Kzar stood, waiting for him.
With an air of importance, Shank proceeded down the rampway. "Warlord Kzar of Ka'ar, Warlord Shank of the Royal Killcruiser thanks you for your letting Warlord Shank's daughter Serola Elmira stay with you."
"It was nothing, brother," Kzar said as cheerfully as the day Elmira had arrived.
As protocol now decreed, Elmira showed her gratitude. "Thank you, Uncle, for welcoming me onto your ship. I hope to see you soon?" Elmira winced at the high pitch she ended with.
Kzar stepped a little closer to his niece. "Whenever you need me," he whispered, "I'm only a communications link away." They hugged one last time and Elmira reluctantly followed her father back onto his transport.
When in private, Shank turned suspiciously to his daughter. "Nothing went on in that ship, did it? Warlord Kzar is not a traitor? Remember, it's an offence to lie to me."
"No, Father, Kzar is not a traitor."
"And you?" Shank's eyes lowered to slits. "You did not betray the Spung Empire, which has kept you safe all your life?"
"No Father."
Feeling satisfied that Elmira was too afraid of him to lie, Shank stepped away. Suddenly, somewhat guiltily, he turned back to the Spung Princess. "And you have been well?"
Elmira stared at him, anger boiling inside. Her emotions wanted to scream at him that he was totally oblivious to a life and death illness she'd contracted and if it weren't for her powers, he probably wouldn't care. But suddenly her anger quelled at a thought.
You don't want to risk the slightest possibility of betraying the Christa, do you? It's commonly known that the Dreaded Disease has- or had- no cure.
With new conviction, Serola Elmira stood up straight and spoke boldly to the Head Warlord. "Yes, Father. I have been well."
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