Shadowkill

##

Kikun opened his eyes, stared blankly at the heart-shaped face hanging over him. Autumn Rose. He was weary, so weary it was almost too much effort to breathe.

“Kikun?” She lifted his hand, let it fall. “Goerta b’rite!”

She went away, came back with a cup of broth. Gathering him up, bracing him against her knee, she began feeding him the broth, sip by sip, slipping in an occasional bite of hipropaste.

When she was finished with that, she straightened his cramped arms and legs and tucked a pillow under his head, then she went off again, came back with a mug of hot tea and a drinking tube. She set the mug beside his head, helped him with the tube. “You feel like talking?”

He sucked at the tea, let the cleansing warmth trickle through him as he considered the question. “Why did you call me back?”

“Didn’t want you killing yourself.”

“Just as well. I’d lost them. What’s happening?”

“Right now, we’re drifting-pointed the same way your last turn took us.”

“Where are we?”

“The Callidara Pseudo-Cluster.”

“What’s that?”

“A very busy place. Nearly a thousand systems less than a light-year apart, two hundred of them inhabited, mostly colonized from other places, only ten of them have native pops. Kephalos tells me we have to go carefully. Sometimes the insplit round here is so busy its fabric shakes.”

Kikun sucked at the tea, frowning. “That doesn’t sound right. Omphalos wouldn’t want close and inquisitive neighbors.”

“Well, it’s where you brought us. Omphalos?”

“Tlee!” He flattened his hands on the floor, tried to push up but his arms had no strength in them. “Help me up.”

“No need to go rushing about. I have to purge the ship before we go near any of those worlds.”

“Purge?”

“Pull her flags. We stole her, remember? I don’t purge her, the first port we hit, zap, straight to jail.”

“Ah. How long will that take?”

“I don’t know. Depends on what system the PO used, previous owner, that is. Don’t worry, I will get it. Digby sees that his Ops know a lot of things most powers say they shouldn’t. You comfortable there, or would you rather go lie down in one of the staterooms?”

“I’ll stay here.”

“Right.” She got to her feet. “First I find me a nice little planet with no people on it. One with air I can breathe so I can get the outside clean, too. Then I suppose I’d better call in and see what Digby has to say. Nothing much is going to be happening for a while, so you might as well get some sleep.”