Keir Read online

  Quin bolted upright and grabbed Surei’s arm, almost pulling the diminutive medic off her feet. Behind her bed, her distress sent the monitors into a flurry of spikes and troughs. “Are you sure?”

  “DNA doesn’t lie. There is no doubt Keir is a fifth generation descendant of the Sentiac.”

  Quin lay back slowly. It explained Keir’s appearance but, Powers, this complicated everything. “How is that possible? Rulk needed a planet with technology to create a sentiac-human hybrid. Salusan doesn’t have anything close to what she’d need.”

  “I don’t know how it’s possible. I don’t know enough about Rulk’s capabilities or Sentiac biology. You’ll have to find her and ask her yourself.”

  “If I can.” Quin dragged her fingers through her hair, smoothing it back from her face. “At least now we know for sure the Sentiac was there. How far back in time do you think we need to go?”

  “A hundred and seventeen years before Keir’s birth there was an unusual plague in Adalucien, well documented by the city’s medical fraternity. Evidence points to the cause being the arrival of outsiders carrying alien microbes to which the natives had no natural immunity. Judging by the symptoms and the rapidity of its spread, I can give you a window of ten days for the newcomers’ arrival in the city. The rate of infection was very consistent.”

  “You think the Sentiac caused the plague?”

  “Yes, I do. People crossing from one continent to another can bring even mild diseases into a population that has never been exposed to them before, and so prove fatal. Imagine how many contaminants someone from another planet might carry. Even with the difference in physiology, it would only take a single contagious micro-organism carried by the Sentiac, and finding a viable host, for the damage to be done.”

  “How can you be sure it came to the city, though? Couldn’t it have infected one of the outlying villages?”

  “I cross-referenced the historical records and the geography. At that time, the nearest villages would have been too far from the city border for someone infected to reach it before being incapacitated by the disease. It killed one third of the city’s population before the military took over, imposing curfews and setting fire to large areas to destroy infected bodies. That’s when the Corizi came to power–the original ruler was the army commander who seized control when the leaders fled the plague.”

  Quin massaged her aching forehead. “So, we assume Rulk stayed in the city,” she mused. “Keir proves she survived long enough to start creating hybrids, although Powers knows how she managed that on such a primitive world.”

  “Genetic engineering isn’t something to be done on the move,” Surei concluded. “So a fixed base of operations in Adalucien is a reasonable assumption.”

  Quin rubbed her eyes, sudden exhaustion overwhelming her. Her search for the elusive Sentiac had already taken several lifetimes and resulted in uncounted dead ends. Even now, with Keir’s existence as proof of the Sentiac’s presence on Salusan, there was no guarantee of finding it. Still, it was the closest she’d ever come. “It might have taken years to set it up. Damn! If I get my timing wrong, I put Keir’s life at risk. I can’t interfere with anything that might prevent his ancestor’s creation.” She shook her head. “Unfortunately that includes doing anything terminal to Rulk.”

  “Paradox?”

  “Yes. I’ll get stuck in a permanent loop.”

  Surei tilted her head. “So what will you do?”

  “Try to get it right?” Quin groaned. “Hades, I’m tired. I really need to sleep.”

  “Then do. I’ll look up some more references, see if I can pin down a better date.”

  Surei left the room and Quin relaxed into the molded mattress, taking one last look at Keir to reassure herself as she settled down to sleep.

  * * * *

  Something threaded its way through his hair and crept across his skull. Several somethings that poked and prodded as they moved, before they focused with increasing pressure on the area that ached the most.

  Rats.

  He shuddered, but even as it crossed his mind he knew the assumption was wrong. The movement was purposeful, not the scratchy skittering of small creatures. Nothing crawled across his face or dragged a cold tail over his skin. Someone was touching him with gentle fingers. Cool hands.

  Keir opened his eyes, and a woman stared down at him. Her eyes widened and she backed away. Despite that, she did not seem anxious or alarmed, judging by the bright smile that revealed tiny fangs. “I’m sorry,” she lisped. “I was just checking on your injuries. Welcome to Lyagnius. I’m Taler, junior medic here.”

  Keir glanced swiftly around the rest of the room, but Quin had gone. Without her guidance, he had no hope of following the customs or protocols of her world. He wished he could ignore the fanged woman–at least until Quin returned–but Taler gave him the impression she would stay put, waiting patiently for a reply, watching the entire time.

  “I am Keir,” he ventured. “Where is Quin?”

  “Around. She wants to see you as soon as you’re fit. I just need to finish my examination, if you don’t mind?”

  Around? Keir’s stomach twisted into a painful knot. What did that mean?

  He grasped a handful of the blanket covering his body. “You need to touch me for this examination?”

  “I’m afraid so. I’ll do it as quickly as I can, I promise.”

  After a brief pause, he nodded and she probed his scalp with gentle fingers. He flinched, but submitted meekly to her touch, despite feeling disturbed by her closeness. His old bravado, the ready threats of violence, rose into his mind but made it no farther. The need for them had been stripped from him as completely as his tattered robes.

  “You heal quickly,” she commented as she worked. “There isn’t even a mark where you were hurt. How are you feeling?”

  “Better.” He found himself staring hard at the girl, and her smile widened at his reaction, baring her fanged canines in a disarming fashion. She was mid-height and slim, her skin white as frost and her eyes nearly so. The purple hair formed a spiked crest over her face and she wore a simple tunic and trousers in pale blue.

  Embarrassed that his fascination might be offensive, he looked away.

  “I don’t mind you staring,” she assured him. “All the newcomers do it. You’ll find we’re a real mixture of races here.”

  Keir shot her a look, wondering if she had read his mind. “Is there anyone here like me?”

  Taler shook her head, her expression sympathetic. “No, but then there’s only me and Sky from my people, and Quin is the only human. It doesn’t matter though. We’re all strays here.”

  “Strays,” he murmured, thinking how appropriate that was.

  “Ah, don’t start feeling sorry for yourself. This is a good place. A good community. Most of us choose to stay here.”

  Keir gazed at her, as intrigued by her words as her appearance. Were all the inhabitants here like her? Like Quin? Taler had treated him with a courtesy and kindness beyond his expectations, a stark contrast to the life he had known. Could this be his new home? A place where he could belong, where he was no longer viewed as a demon?

  “Can you sit up?” Taler asked. “I need to change the dressing on your back.”

  Keir did so with her help, grimacing. He moved stiffly, his muscles aching. Something stung his back where the knife had pierced his shoulder, before Taler ran her fingers over the spot. He cringed at the contact but refused to let himself pull away as she worked.

  “Incredible,” she muttered. “Well, I think I can let you go now.” Smiling at him with unfamiliar warmth, she took his arm and opened the metal collar. The needles revealed inside must have been buried in his skin and he winced in response. Beads of blood marked his inner arm.

  Keir watched her every move in silence as she laid it aside. Wriggling his fingers dispelled the faint numbness it had caused.

  “Quin left some clothes for you. I’ll fetch them. When you’re dressed I’ll
take you to her.” Taler handed him a glass of clear liquid. “Drink this while you’re waiting, please.”

  He took it in both hands and sipped. It was cool and sweet and his parched throat was grateful. “Thank you.”

  She smiled as she left, and Keir gulped down the rest of the liquid as ordered. The drink seemed to give him some strength and he wondered what was in it. Taler soon returned with a small bundle of clothing and a pair of black shoes, which she laid on his bed.

  “I’ll put the screens up,” she told him. “Shout when you’re ready.”

  She touched the main wall behind him and two metallic partitions slid out at right angles to box him in. He shivered at being confined, reminded of his cell beneath the North Tower. Swinging his legs from the bed made his back and ribs twinge, and placing his bare feet on the ground sent a shock through him. The soft black flooring was warm but felt totally alien, the textured fibers molding across his soles like a second skin. The sensation was unnerving, and several times he pulled his feet free to avoid it.

  Melancholy filled him. There were so many strange things to become accustomed to. For a moment it seemed overwhelming, and he sat where he was, clutching the blanket. Eventually, he stood and made himself let the cover drop. Forced himself not to pick it up again. He had not been naked since the night he was tortured and he shivered at the feeling of the air on his bare skin.

  He dressed quickly, still feeling exposed though the clothing was warm and comfortable. The thick gray top had sleeves that hooked over his thumbs to cover the backs of his hands, a small blessing for which he was grateful, but the rounded neck was not high enough to hide the tattoos at the tops of his shoulders. After tugging at it several times, he gave up with a sigh of frustration.

  The pale-colored trousers hung off his hips, even after he had cinched the belt as tight as it would go. He slipped his feet into the shoes, relieved not to have to feel the floor any longer. Still feeling bare and unfinished, he called to Taler and the screens snapped back. He flushed at her admiring glance as she checked him over and grinned her approval.

  “Much better,” she said. “Are you ready?”

  He nodded, eager to leave. All he could think of now was seeing Quin again, learning more about the strange world she had brought him to and the new life she had promised him.

  Taler led him through numerous corridors that all looked the same: windowless off-white walls and tiled white floors, lit by faintly lambent ceilings. They passed people occasionally, and Keir tried in vain not to stare, despite the medic’s assurance it was expected from a newcomer. He was certainly viewed with a degree of curiosity in return, but without the fear and hostility that had always met his appearance in Adalucien.

  One passerby stopped to exchange lengthy greetings with Taler, and she introduced him as Sky. He had the same small, white face, ice-blue eyes and fangs as she did, but his spiked hair was pale blue as opposed to her purple. After a rapid discussion that might have been in a foreign language for all Keir understood of it, she bid Sky farewell with a promise to meet in an hour. A few moments later a tall, silvery woman crossed their path and greeted them with a gesture, her flawlessly sculpted face impassive. Taler returned the movement with an expression of awe and they both paused to watch her pass, elegant in her long silver dress and cascading mane of bright silver hair.

  “Who is she?” he found the courage to ask, impressed by Taler’s reaction to one of her own compatriots.

  “That’s Mercury,” she explained. “She’s a synthetic humanoid, the only one of her kind. I rarely see her.”

  A few more twists and turns and suddenly real sunlight flooded the corridor, blinding in its intensity. Once his eyes had adjusted to the blaze of golden light, Keir saw that one entire wall was made of sections of glass that looked out across the landscape and encircled a huge, round garden.

  A small waterfall emptied into a pond that reflected the perfect blue of the sky. The lush green lawn was interspersed with areas of gravel, all surrounded by a riot of colorful plants. Through the far side of the wall Keir saw rolling green hills and groves of silvery trees still clad in sparse golden foliage. Quin sat alone on a carved stone bench, eyes fixed on the distant horizon and her red hair stirring in a gentle breeze. She still wore black, as if in mourning, her face pale and serious.

  Something strange shivered through him at the sight of her and his breathing faltered. He had spent his life alone, resigned to exile, yet he felt drawn to Quin, wanting her company, to hear her voice. The sudden inexplicable need terrified him.

  Taler opened one of the glass panels and gave him a gentle push when he did not move, sealing the door behind him. His feet carried him forward. The sun warmed his skin and a stiff breeze ruffled his hair. There was a bite to the wind and a scent of dampness, hinting at the approach of autumn displayed by the changing leaves. Only the distant splash of the waterfall and the rustling of nearby greenery broke the silence of Lyagnius, Keir’s footsteps muffled by the grass beneath his feet. A tremble in his legs made him slow down as he drew closer.

  Quin turned and saw him. With a cry, she jumped to her feet and darted to him, stopping just shy of touching distance. He hesitated, his heart pounding furiously. For an instant he had the impression she had intended to touch him, hold him. The idea terrified him, and yet he felt a sliver of disappointment that she had held back.

  Quin smiled at him, her eyes searching his face. “I’m glad to see you.”

  The sight of her face warmed him as much as her words. “And I you.”

  Her hand twitched toward him as if reaching for his hand, but instead she hugged herself, one thumb rubbing at her arm as if it bothered her.

  “Are you cold?” he asked. There was definitely an edge to the breeze but her clothing looked thicker than his.

  “No, I…” Her gaze shifted, returned to his face again. “Are you all right?”

  The quiver in his legs increased.

  “Quin, I think I must sit down,” he said. The admission annoyed him, but he feared his legs giving out.

  Her face a picture of concern, she gestured him to a bench, then crouched in front of him as he sat. “Medical weren’t supposed to release you unless you were fit,” she scolded. “How are you feeling?”

  “A bit weak,” he confessed, “but I will be all right. Taler tells me I am healed.”

  “You do look better.” She smiled, her relief evident as she touched his sleeve. “These look much better on you than those rags. Are they okay?”

  “Yes,” Keir assured her, “but… ”

  “What?”

  “I still feel…exposed,” he explained. “I have not shown my face since I was seven years old. I feel… ”

  “Naked? Vulnerable?”

  Keir nodded reluctantly, a pang of unease spearing through him at admitting to such weakness.

  Quin sighed. “I’m sorry. I wish I could make this easier for you, but you will get used to it. You don’t need to hide your face here.”

  “I know. I am simply unaccustomed to it.” Keir watched as Quin touched his sleeve again, sensing something more beneath the movement. “You are sad. Is something wrong?”

  Quin glanced up, searching his face with a sudden urgency. “How did you know that?”

  “I…felt it. Now you are frightened.”

  She stood and turned away as if recoiling from him in dread, one hand to her mouth.

  He was suddenly, terribly certain he had broken some unknown taboo. “Quin, what is the matter? What have I done?”

  “No, you’ve done nothing wrong. It’s what I’ve done to you. I…I have a confession to make.” She turned back to him with a guilty look in her eyes and her hands clasped together in supplication. She was silent for so long he began to think she could not bring herself to go on. “Did you know that you died after I brought you here?” she whispered.

  Keir shivered reflexively. “No one told me. I thought I might be dying. I have never felt so close to it before,” he
murmured. “Who brought me back?”

  “I did.”

  “And that is your confession?”

  “No. It’s the way it was done. The medical team couldn’t save you and I was told to let you go, but I couldn’t.” Quin swallowed hard. “I wouldn’t. So I went after you. I joined my mind to yours and brought you back, whether you wanted to or not. I gave you no choice.”

  He stared at her in disbelief, mystified by her apparent contrition. She seemed overwhelmed by shame for her actions, as if she had committed some grave sin against him.

  “You believe I wanted to die?”

  “Didn’t you?”

  Keir frowned and closed his eyes, trying to think. It was harder than he would ever admit to go back to that place. “I remember darkness,” he murmured. “I was so tired and I wanted to sleep. I did not want the pain any more. I wanted it to stop.”

  Quin walked away suddenly, arms wrapped around herself, and he knew she was crying. Guilt poured from her like waves, and he remembered sinking into the sea, remembered her reaching out for him. Still unsteady, he rose and went to her. The sight of her tears hurt more than the dark memories of his death. He had no wish for her to endure such pain on his behalf.

  “You took my hand, even though it meant you drowning with me.” He took a deep breath then slowly, deliberately, took her face in his hands, desperate for her to understand. “Do you remember what happened then?”

  Her eyes widened, and a long moment of silence wrapped around them. “You…you held onto my hand,” she stuttered at last. “I couldn’t let go.”

  “Because I had made my choice. I wanted to be saved.” He wiped a tear off her cheek with his thumb. “I came back because I wanted to live, and if you need my forgiveness for that, you have it. You have shown me nothing but kindness. Why would I hate you for it?”

  “Because that isn’t the end of it! Our minds are joined forever, an unbreakable bond. If anything happens to me, you’ll feel it whether you want to or not. You’ll never be free of me, and one day, one of us will die. Have you any idea what that will do to the other?”