Alienated

Chapter Twenty-Four

Cara gasped when a pair of cool metal shears brushed the skin on her abdomen, causing the L’eihr medic who wielded them to pause and offer a questioning glance.

“Sorry,” Cara said, “it’s just cold.”

The medic, a soft-spoken girl with the longest eyelashes Cara had ever seen, continued cutting away Cara’s sweater, sending a tiny pearl button clinking to the examination table. When the last remaining wool scraps had fallen, Cara’s chest broke out in goose bumps. The air—or, rather, the lack thereof—sixty miles above Earth was brutally frigid, despite the heated ventilation.

Cara picked up the button and rolled it between her thumb and index finger while glancing around the immaculate gray-walled exam room. A variety of foreign instruments hung on the walls, and she tried to guess their purposes. Tilting her head, she leaned to the side to inspect a polished metallic rod. Aside from delivering a good bludgeoning, she couldn’t imagine how it was useful.

“Please be still,” the girl said in a thick accent similar to French-Polynesian. “This will be uncomfortable, but travel­ing at light speed will widen the fissures in your ribs if we don’t mend them first.”

“We’ll reach light speed?” That surprised Cara, since they weren’t going directly to L’eihr. Aelyx’s leaders were bringing Troy and meeting them halfway for an emergency hearing.

The girl smiled, but her eyes were vacant. “Yes, now hold still.”

Vacant stare or not, Cara welcomed and reciprocated the smile. It was the first she’d received since Aelyx had smuggled her aboard the main ship an hour ago. Even the withered old ambassador with dead eyes had straightened his spine and puckered his mouth when he’d caught a glimpse of her. He and Aelyx had engaged in the most intense staring match she’d ever witnessed, and though she hadn’t been able to sneak a peek at their thoughts, she’d felt the message loud and clear: she wasn’t welcome. She just hoped nobody flushed her out the airlock like people did to their enemies on Battlestar Galactica.

“Sit up straighter, please.” The medic placed a hand on Cara’s back and helped her lean forward on the exam table. Then she wrapped a flexible pad around her chest and secured it in the front. Moving to a control panel on the wall, the girl warned, “This is slightly unpleasant, but try to relax.”

Cara nodded, preparing for the worst, but to her surprise, the wrap warmed like a heating pad. Tipping back her head, she closed her eyes in rapture and groaned, “Ah, that feels aweso—”

Suddenly her fist clenched around the pearl button. The warmth shot from soothing to unbearable in an instant, as if the medic had turned a stove burner from low to volcanic. Her skin burned while scorching heat filled her lungs, forc­ing up ripples of nausea. She swallowed down bile as beads of sweat dotted her upper lip.

Then an ungodly tightness squeezed her chest like a blood pressure cuff, stealing her breath and forcing the heat into her face, where it settled inside her throbbing cheek. Slightly unpleasant, my ass! She closed the one eye that hadn’t already swollen shut and tried to stay calm, but the pain was too intense. Just as she was about to cry out, the pressure released and the wrap cooled just as suddenly as it had flared.

Relief was instantaneous, but Cara inhaled deeply through her nose to clear away leftover queasiness. The medic removed the wrap and encouraged Cara to stand. “Move around and tell me if you feel any pain.”

She hopped down from the table and twisted her torso from side to side—tentatively at first, but then with more enthusiasm. “Wow, that’s amazing! I feel perfect.” Whoa, almost. The walls began to blur and swirl around her. She grabbed the edge of the table and cupped a hand over her swollen eye. “I’m still a little dizzy.”

“I haven’t scanned your head yet,” the girl said, reaching for the metal rod Cara had noticed earlier and then holding it to the back of her skull. “Just a fracture of the lateral orbital rim. It won’t take long. Then we’ll start on your bruises.”

“Oh, the bludgeoning stick’s an X-ray machine.” She’d never have guessed it.

“Pardon?” the girl asked, looking from the instrument in her hand back to Cara.

“Nothing, just talking to myself.”

After using a less painful, headband-size heated wrap to mend Cara’s fracture, the medic pulled a clear gel pad from a drawer beneath the exam table and filled a hypodermic needle with milky fluid. She shook the gel pad, and it began to emit a purple glow.

“This,” she said, holding up the needle, “will help your body reabsorb the blood from your bruises. And this”—she nodded toward the pad—“will heal the underlying tissue. Watch.”

She began with a softball-size bruise above Cara’s waist, injecting the white liquid until a pocket bubbled up from her skin. It stung, but this was a mosquito bite compared to getting dropkicked in the chest. Then the medic rested the glowing purple gel pack lightly atop the bruise and applied gentle pressure, pushing down a little harder as the seconds passed. When she lifted the pad, all traces of the bruise were gone.

“Wow,” Cara whispered.

After healing her cheek and puffy eye, the medic con­cluded Cara’s treatment with a fahren wrap: tingling, muddy goop that smoothed every last cut and scrape from her skin, leaving it soft and flawless. Maybelline had nothing on the L’eihrs. After sponging off and changing into a tan and gray uniform, she pulled her hair into a low ponytail and grinned at her reflection in the mirror—the ultimate L’annabe, minus the spray tan. Ashley would’ve been proud.

“Thanks.” Cara hesitated, then touched the medic’s fore­arm. The girl might feel the same aversion to contact Aelyx once did, but Cara needed to express her gratitude, not only for the medical care but for her kindness.

The girl did flinch beneath Cara’s fingers and pulled away, but she softened the rejection with a gentle smile. “I’ll take you to Aelyx. I know he’ll be glad to see you.”

Flutters tickled the inside of Cara’s belly at the mere thought of him. She followed her guide along the winding corridors, finally taking the opportunity to study her sur­roundings. When they’d first approached the main ship, she’d been too busy trying to stop dry heaving to spare a glance out the shuttle window, and Aelyx had whisked her away to the medic right afterward. Honestly, though, there wasn’t much to see, at least not at the moment. Everything—halls, floors, doors—was a monotony of metallic gray. The transport was like a floating labyrinth, a maze of sleek and simple silvery passages. She wondered how she’d ever find her way alone.

“There.” The girl pointed to the end of the hallway, where Aelyx stood, locked in Silent Speech with a petite female Cara recognized as Syrine. Considering the rigid set of their folded arms, this wasn’t a friendly gab session. After a quick two-fingered touch to Cara’s throat, the medic left her and returned to the clinic.

Suddenly chilled again, Cara leaned against the wall and chaffed her hands while studying Aelyx and his best friend, the lovely emotional healer who saw into his soul. Not that she was jealous or anything.

Aelyx’s honey-brown hair, now too short for a ponytail, fell over his brow, and he shoved it behind his ears before resuming the “argument.” They were fighting about her. She knew it. After what’d happened to that poor boy in China, she couldn’t blame the L’eihrs for icing her out, but at the same time, she hadn’t expected such an evolved race to hold her accountable for a murder she didn’t commit. She’d stood by Aelyx even after her community shunned her—didn’t that count for anything?

Judging by the way Syrine had just shoved Aelyx’s chest, the answer was no.

Maybe she shouldn’t interrupt. Cara hugged herself, shiv­ering against the wall as she worked up the courage to keep moving.

Help you? Syrine pounded her fists against Aelyx’s sternum, reminding him of the time he’d taken Cara to the boxing gym to help her get back her “fight.” It seemed Syrine had returned from Earth with a little too much of it. You’re delu­sional if you think I’ll help you save the cretins who killed Eron!

So you’d punish billions for the crimes of a few?

Yes! This wasn’t the same Syrine he’d known for a lifetime—not this girl with snarled lips, her teeth bared like a rabid animal. I hate them all! Even your precious Elire!

He shrank back at the dark undertones in her thoughts. She’s part of me. Aelyx closed the distance between them and gripped Syrine’s upper arm. He had to make her understand. A threat against her is a threat against me.

Suddenly, Cara’s porcelain fingers curled around his hand, startling him into relaxing his grip. “You okay?” Tilting her head, she regarded him with wide eyes, her face radiant and healed and so stunning it made his breath catch.

He stepped back and took in Cara’s uniform as an invol­untary smile played on his lips. The simple tan tunic seemed more out of place on her shoulders than the jewels on Mr. Manuel’s toilet seat back on Earth, yet the sight made his heart swell until it bumped his lungs. He loved seeing her in his people’s clothing. It was a reminder that she’d chosen a life with him, impossible as it seemed.

“Oh, this?” She posed like a fashion model, lifting her collar and shifting her weight to one hip. “Guess I’m an offi­cial L’eihr now. I’ll blend right in.”

“Aside from your skin, eyes, and hair, yes, you’ll blend right in.” He opened his arms and she rushed inside, locking their bodies together. “How’re your ribs?” he asked.

Resting her chin on his chest, she blinked up at him, smil­ing. “Hug me as hard as you can and we’ll find out.”

He cupped her cheek and kissed her softly before encasing her in his arms again and crushing her closer. Just when he thought there was no space between them, she found a spare molecule and eliminated it by returning the embrace with all her strength. His blood warmed, spreading the tingling heat through his veins until his whole core hummed with loving her.

Syrine made a mock retching noise, but he ignored it.

When Cara pulled back, she reached up and ruffled his hair. “With a little gel, you’d look like half the guys in school. You’re more human than me right now.”

“Which explains his asinine behavior,” Syrine retorted. “But don’t stop now. I’m sure you can mold him into the perfect companion.”

Cara’s fist tightened around his shirt, but she concealed her frustration, maintaining a blank expression as she turned to Syrine. “I don’t want to change Aelyx—I love him just the way he is.”

Syrine scoffed, her laugh so dry it tainted the air with the stink of loathing. “He doesn’t feel the same about you. Your kind disgusts him.” She raised her chin in contempt. “Did he tell you what we’ve done?”

“That’s enough!” He locked eyes with Syrine and deliv­ered a stern warning. No more! She’s mine, and I won’t let you ruin her with your hate!

Ruin her? Syrine asked. Or ruin you? Afraid your sweet Elire won’t forgive you for what you’ve done?

Syrine had always been able to pinpoint Aelyx’s greatest fear, but this was the first time she’d ever tried to use it against him. Please don’t. He couldn’t hide his desperation. For the briefest of moments, Syrine’s resolve faltered, but in the end, her rage took control.

“You mean the water?” Cara said. “I already know about the contamination.”

Syrine turned and gave him a look of reproach. “Is there anything you haven’t told her? Thank the Mother I had the forethought to delete her site.”

“You shut down my blog?” Cara demanded.

Syrine ignored the question as a wicked grin curved her lips. “I’ll bet there are some things you didn’t share with our sweet Elire.” Then she practically sang, “Like the sh’alear.”

“What’s that?” Cara asked.

“Nothing,” he said. “Syrine’s out of her mind with grief. She doesn’t know what she’s saying.” He grabbed Cara’s hand and tried to lead her away. “Come on. I’ll take you to your room so you can rest.”

“Don’t do that.” She jerked free. “Don’t lie to me again. I can tell something’s going on.”

“Lie to you again?” Syrine gave a teasing tsk-tsk-tsk. He pleaded with her, but she blocked his thoughts. “What’s he told you?”

Instead of answering, Cara faced him and waited for sev­eral agonizing beats, offering him a chance to confess. He remembered what she’d said that morning, though it seemed a lifetime ago: We have to trust each other, or we’re no better than strangers. He shook his head, silently begging her to let it go.

Cara finally turned back to Syrine. “He said the exchange was a trial,” she told her. “That your leaders want us to inter­marry because you’re missing emotional depth or something. They want humans to colonize L’eihr.”

“Wanted,” Syrine corrected. “Past tense, but yes, that’s right. What he didn’t mention is that our generation detests the idea.” She paused to curl her lip and scan Cara from head to toe in obvious disdain. “As if we need your inferior genetic material. So we sabotaged the experiment. Aelyx planned everything. The whole time he’s been living with you, he’s been killing your crops to incite panic so he could keep you and your foul race away from L’eihr.”

Cara released a humorless laugh as if the words were too ludicrous to believe, but when she glanced at him he could only gape at her in shame.

Slowly, her brows rose. “Is that true?”

“It started that way,” he admitted, taking her hand again, “but then I began to care for you, and I realized we couldn’t be together if the alliance failed, so I uprooted my sh’alear.”

“Wait.” Cara held one hand forward. “What’s that?”

“The sh’alear is a parasitic tree,” Syrine told her. “It robs the soil of nutrients and destroys most fruit-bearing vegeta­tion until it’s uprooted. Aelyx showed us how to smuggle the seedlings to Earth and how to plant them. He said it would fuel human paranoia.”

“That’s why you kept going into the woods,” Cara said to him. “When did you pull it up?”

This was the worst part—the most damning. “A few days ago,” he said.

Cara shook her head and stared at him in silence. When she spoke again, the pain in her voice prickled his flesh. “So, up until three days ago, you were trying to make sure you’d never see me again?”

He didn’t have a response for that. How could he make her understand how conflicted he’d felt? How afraid he’d been that mankind would destroy his planet and his people?

Just look at the way humans had transformed Syrine from a compassionate healer into a black hole of malice.

“But I killed my seedling,” he objected. “And Eron tried to do the same.”

“Getting him murdered in the process!” Syrine shouted.

“He knew it was the right choice, long before we found out—” The alliance would save mankind.

“Oh, gods,” Syrine said, clapping a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. “I forgot the best part! Without the alliance—and our technology—your planet’s as good as dead.”

Cara continued to shake her head absently. “They won’t help us unless the alliance goes through?” She glanced at him once again for a refusal he couldn’t provide.

“I didn’t know until a few days ago—I swear it on the Mother.” He couldn’t let her think for one second he’d plot­ted to destroy her people. As he explained how the growth particles had infected all of Earth’s major water sources, Cara’s chest rose and fell in shallow gasps.

“We’ve got ten years?” she whispered. “And L’eihr won’t help us?”

“But I fought to save the alliance as soon as I found out.”

“Oh, well, that makes it all right.” Cara freed her hands and backed away from him.

All his nightmares had ended in some variation of this—losing her once she learned the truth of what he’d done. But unlike the dreams, he wouldn’t stand frozen and watch her disappear from his life.

Giving her space, he held up his palms like a man in sur­render. “Please listen. I was wrong, but as soon as I realized—”

“Stop.” She shut her eyes, sealing them tightly as if to block out reality. When she opened them again, tears spilled down her cheeks. “I sacrificed everything for you, and you were screwing over my whole planet the entire time.”

“Not the entire time.”

“Till three days ago!”

“But I love you. I showed you my feelings—you know they’re real.”

“And that’s why I can’t trust you.” She paused to drag her shirtsleeve beneath her nose. “Loving me didn’t stop you from lying or playing God. And now you expect me to fly away with you and leave everyone behind to die?”

“No! I’ll get the technology somehow, even if I have to steal it.”

“Damn right, you will. And then I’ll take it home with my brother.”

Syrine shoved him aside and held one finger in Cara’s face. “You won’t take a single grain of sand off L’eihr. I already told the Elders what Aelyx was planning.”

“Then I’m glad the experiment failed,” Cara spat, “because you’re monsters. All of you!”

Before his brain could register what was happening, Syrine slapped Cara across the face, hard enough to send her stum­bling into his arms. He held her protectively, but she recoiled and pushed free.

Syrine gasped, staring at her palm in disbelief as she backed up a pace, while Cara advanced, blood surging into her cheeks, fingers flexing, muscles coiled and ready to strike back. She stilled her hand and stopped within an inch of Syrine’s nose.

“And you called my people barbarians,” Cara said. “You’re no better. At least humans can love.”

“Don’t talk to me about love,” Syrine whispered, her back against the wall. “I loved Eron all my life—even when he chose someone else. I never stopped.”

“I didn’t know Eron very well,” Cara said, “but I bet he wouldn’t want a whole planet to die for him.” She whipped her head around and locked eyes with Aelyx, her gaze cold and empty. “I’m going home. I never should’ve left.”

“Wait.” Lurching forward, he grabbed her shoulders. “I can make you understand. Just let me show you how I felt . . . how much I struggled with the choice.”

“No!” She closed her eyes.

“Just this once, and I’ll never ask you again.”

Cara pushed him away, screaming, “I don’t want your poi­son inside my head!” She turned on her heel and fled down the hall, her ponytail swinging to and fro.

Her words sent him stumbling back like a blow to the chest. Aelyx’s eyes welled until she blurred into a collage of red and beige, then she turned the corner and disappeared.

He had to fix this. But how? Stepha had promised a dozen lashes for bringing Cara aboard the ship, and the Elders would watch him too closely for him to steal the technology and escape.

Whatever it takes, he decided. It didn’t matter what he had to do—the end would justify the means. He’d find a way to save Earth or die trying.