LINKS
____________
The Christa Affair
Chapter Thirty
They burst into Karli's hospital room -- all seven of them -- getting in each other's way as they tried to get thru the door at the same time. Karli sat bolt upright in the bed, screaming at the top of her lungs, pawing frantically at the air around her; she was sitting \on\ the bed, not floating above it, and the strange soft-green ray that had encased her for the last seven days was gone.
Instantly Jashi was at her side, trying to calm her. Her wild purposeless flailing continued unabated; one fist caught Jashi full in the mouth, splitting his upper lip. He stepped back out of harm's way and reached out with his mind. Slowly the screaming lessened in intensity, and at last she was still, sobbing quietly. Jashi took her in his arms.
For a long time neither of them moved. Karli lay in his arms, trembling violently, her head pillowed on his chest; Jashi caressed her gently with his mind, soothing, pushing back the memory of the wild, tumbling descent that had ended in violent collision with the frozen surface of L'sa'ria. (.... Falling... Tumbling... Falling.... "Oh God, Jashi, it was terrible! ....") She sobbed again, once, very softly.
(.... "It's over, Kitten... It's just a memory....")
At last the trembling stopped and she pulled free, sitting up and looking around as if seeing the others for the first time. She smiled weakly. "How'd I get here? How long? What happened to your mouth?"
"Seven and a half days," replied Suu, answering the second question first. "You were brain-dead when we pulled you out of the landingcraft. You never changed the whole time, till now. The crash-field saved you," she finished.
"Seven days?..."
Suu examined Karli carefully. Neither their own medical instruments nor those native to the L'sa'rian facility could find anything wrong -- even the swelling and discoloration of her multiple bruises had faded. "You're fine, completely normal in every way," Suu said at last, switching off the console next to the bed. "I don't understand... Less than an hour ago you were brain-dead; had been since we picked you up..." she finished lamely, her voice trailing off in confusion as she recalled her consultation with the Keeper shortly before leaving Karli to join the others in the anteroom. The Keeper had reported no change in Karli's condition -- no progress -- and had offered little hope for recovery.
"I'm hungry, guys," said Karli, swinging her bare feet to the floor. "Where's my clothes? It's cold in here!"
*********
For two days the argument raged nonstop. Thru it all, Rang stood firm that they \must\ follow up on what they had learned. Even though the Sphere had been given to him by mistake, he \had\ been the one to receive the telepathic instructions from the Estarani, and the urgency conveyed by those instructions was still compelling. In spite of her intimate brush with death, Karli had consistently sided with Rang.
As would be expected, Mowii wanted to go home, back to Summit, in spite of the fact that intercepted hyperphone traffic had revealed no improvement in the overall galactic situation; quite the contrary -- there had been a second outbreak of Estarani on several of the worlds where the Federation maintained major installations. "For the hundredth time, Mowii, return to Summit is \impossible\!" said Jashi sharply. Still over-stressed from Karli's crash and apparent death, the argument had worn him to a frazzle.
It was the third day following Karli's miraculous recovery. They were all gathered in the antechamber of their quarters; the robowaiter had just departed with the remains of what would have been a terrific lunch, had he been in a mood to enjoy it.
"Summit is \not\ an option!" Jashi continued. "The place is in the middle of a damn race war. No telling what the situation in Capital is like, if it's even still there. Parts of the city have been attacked at least once by a Federation cruiser..." His voice trailed off. They had all seen video of the Raider starship attacks against the cities of Rangor-Three, before the B'nth and their world had come under Federation protection; the devastation had been unbelievable.
"That's just great!" Mowii retorted. We can't go home because you don't know what the situation is, but \you\," she glared at Rang, "want to go chasing off to a planet full of pirates and criminals to save some damn Princess!" If looks could kill, Rang would have died instantly.
Jashi sighed wearily. They had been over it all a hundred times and they were no closer to a decision that they had been two days earlier. "I'm only gonna go thru this one more time! After that we take a vote... secret ballot if necessary, but we take a vote!" He paused to let the implications of that sink in. They had never voted in secret on \anything\ in the years they had been together aboard the \Klondike\; this question had divided the group as nothing ever had before.
"We have three viable options at the moment," he continued, ignoring a rather crude comment from Mowii. "One, we can follow this thing thru to its conclusion. It may be too late already, but if the Federation and the galaxy as we know it are to be saved, Licti's gotta be stopped. We very well may be the only ones who know he's at the bottom of all this, and the only ones in a position to do anything about it.
"Two, we can go back to Ultazari... We've heard nothing on the hyperband to indicate there's any trouble there. Yet... But remember, that's where we got involved in this mess, and it's the only known deposit of I-26 in the entire galaxy. Sooner or later, \somebody's\ gonna show up wanting some of it... Or \all\ of it.
"Three -- the wisest, from a selfish point of view -- we can stay here. Everything we could ever want is ours for the asking, and with the speed of the hyperdrive now that the Keeper has modified it, it'll be a long time before this place is far enough outside the galaxy to make our return impractical, should the situation become stable again."
Jashi paused, realizing just how futile the whole thing was, and felt mildly ashamed of his anger. Hell! He really didn't know how to vote himself... And Karli had nearly died... It would be so easy to just stay here, safe and snug inside this alien world they had inherited, with an inexhaustible supply of everything they could ever wish for.
(.... "Jash, please! You \know\ we have to go. You'll always know if we don't. Every time you hold me... Every time you look at me....") In his heart, Jashi knew she was right.
They voted. Nobody voted for Ultazari -- no one voted to stay in L'sa'ria. There were Seven votes for Sanctuary; Mowii voted to return to Summit.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
This document maintained by JD Fowler --
Material Copyright © 1988 Dennis R.
Triplitt
Site Design Copyright © 2000 lordoftheflies.org
Company