Parallax (Starblind #2), page 2
Forcing myself into action, I shouldered Zula out of the way, my stomach twisting with anxiety. Sure enough, huddled together on the floor were two Mazatimz children, both female, no older than ten, guessing from their slight frames and youthful faces. The clothes they were dressed in were non-descript, loose, and an off-white color, making it difficult to judge if they were malnourished or not. The small pod they had been in was barely bigger than they were, which was why it had been easily brought in with our tractor beam. They must have hit The Pittsburgh at the perfect angle to set us into a spin. It’d been pure bad luck … or maybe good luck for them that they’d found me.
Slamming my palm against the keypad, I fumbled to get the door open. Jane snatched at my wrist. “What are you doing?” I hissed. “We need to help them.” My gaze was riveted on the children. Their presence ripped open wounds and drudged up memories better left forgotten. I shook my head. Get it together.
“We haven’t scanned them or the pod yet,” Jane said, her gaze softening as she studied me.
“I don’t care!” Flinging her hand from me, I fumbled at the keypad again, my fingers stiff, making it difficult to get the numbers right.
“Let her go,” Zula murmured, stepping forward to punch the code in herself.
The door slid open, my ears popping as the pressure equalized, and the next thing I knew I was in front of the children on my knees, peering into their eyes. Lacking the finesse I usually had, I shoved my energy into theirs, testing and assessing. They held perfectly still until I was done, obviously aware of exactly what I was doing.
“You’re okay. There’s nothing wrong with you.”
The smaller of the two girls smiled at me sweetly. “We could have told you that.”
“Now, you need to tell me what you two were doing in that pod all by yourselves.” An image of Eron flashed in my mind, and I shook my head to dislodge it. First the nightmares, and now unbidden memories of Eron … What the hell is going on?
The other girl’s lower lip began to tremble. “Our f-father put us in that pod and sent us away. He said it was the only way …” Fat tears slid down her face, her grip tightening around her apparent sister.
I eyed the two girls with new appreciation. Twins, although not identical. I probed the bond between them, acknowledging what I’d already sensed on some level. They were Metzas. Maybe that’s why I’ve been thinking of Eron? And being Metzas meant that they should have been guarded, protected with—
Like you and Eron were? My gut twisted. The way Eron and I had been stolen away from our people had been surprisingly easy. I, of all Mazatimzs, knew the flaws in our security.
Not wanting to push them at the moment, I stood and offered my hands. “Come on, let’s get you some food and then we can talk.”
The smaller girl took the offering of my hand, squeezing my pinky and ring finger tightly. Her sister clung to her, swiping at her tears as if embarrassed by them.
Jane and Zula smiled encouragingly at the two girls when we passed from the airlock into the ship, although Jane’s expression was forced. I didn’t have to be a mind reader to know what she was thinking. Jane was wondering what we were going to do with them. A valid question, even I had to admit.
Even before the threat of the Denards constantly loomed over us, we weren’t a child friendly ship. Jane was a bounty hunter, and we often housed criminals because of it. In fact, we currently had a Class 4 locked up in the prison, being held for a day or two until we reached our rendezvous point where we’d be rid of him and receive payment. Although it’d never happened before, there was always a chance of escape since no things in life were certain, not even Zula’s containment grids.
Lost in thought, I blinked in confusion when I realized we were already at the entrance to the eating lounge. I led the girls over to the large table and sat them down. Jane and Zula traipsed in a few moments later, the two of them lingering near the entrance warily. I fought the urge to laugh. Big, bad, bounty-hunter Jane, and I’m-smarter-than-everyone Zula were nervous around children. Somehow it fit perfectly.
Grinning, I said, “Come on in, Mazatimz children don’t bite.” Neither one of them moved. Rolling my eyes, I returned my attention to the girls. “First, I should probably introduce myself. I’m Tamzea.” I nodded in Jane and Zula’s general direction. “Ignore those two for now.”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” Jane strode forward and gave a little wave. “I’m Jane, the captain of this ship. You know, the one you sent into a tailspin when you—”
“Jane.” I shoved my elbow into her side, grimacing at having to do so. I disliked inflicting pain of any kind, but Jane had a way of forcing my hand, so to speak.
“We don’t understand what she said,” the smaller girl murmured, twisting a piece of hair around her finger.
Surprise widened my eyes. “How is that possible? Are your translators broken or malfunctioning?”
“We don’t have translators.”
I was rendered speechless. It was mandated by UGFS law to have translators implanted in all registered species soon after birth. Reflexively, I ran my fingers over the tiny bump behind my ear. It didn’t make sense for anyone to not want such a thing for their children. It would limit their ability to understand—
Unless …
Another unbidden memory skittered across my brain.
I awoke suddenly, a blinding light shining into my eyes. When I attempted to sit up, I came to the horrifying realization that I was strapped down to a metal table.
“Grab her head,” a female voice commanded. “The sooner we get this taken care of the better.”
“I don’t understand why it’s necessary to remove their translators,” a second female voice said, higher in pitch.
“Because that way we won’t have to worry about them overhearing what we say. Plus, they won’t get very far when the only language they’ll be able to understand is their own.”
“Yes, Mother.”
My head was wrenched to the left, although I didn’t put up much of a fight. I was worried that more than my implants would be damaged if I did under the circumstances.
Two slices of a blade, and the use of an extractor followed by a cauterizing tool, and I couldn’t understand a word my captors uttered.
My thoughts returning to the present, I eyed the girls speculatively. “When were they taken from you?”
“Taken?” they asked in unison, tilting their heads in confusion.
“Yes, when were your translators taken from you?”
The smaller girl, who I was learning quickly was the more confident of the two, answered, “We never had any.”
My feet and hands tingled, a wave of dizziness washing over me. “Where … where is your father? Why did he put you in that pod?” Before my knees could buckle, I flopped down into a chair across from the girls.
“He’s in the only place we’ve ever known. With the bad people. The people who—” The girl clamped her mouth shut suddenly as if she remembered she wasn’t supposed to say anything.
Zula sat down beside me, her gaze roaming over the twins like they were a puzzle she wanted to solve. “Ask them their names again.”
“Okay. Okay.” I scrubbed a hand down my face, wanting all of it to be a nightmare. I wasn’t sure if I could deal with having to face parts of my past drudged up by the presence of the girls. I wasn’t strong like the rest of my crew. I plastered a smile on my face, hoping it didn’t terrify the girls. “Let’s start at the beginning. What are your names?”
“I’m Xia,” the smaller twin said, “and she’s Tia.” She motioned at her sister.
“Their names are Xia and Tia,” I announced to Jane and Zula while pointing at the corresponding twin—although I wasn’t sure why I was translating to them, since it was the twins who were currently language impaired.
Jane snorted and slapped a hand against the counter top. “No matter the species, mothers of twins, or heaven forbid triplets or something, have serious issues naming their kids. I mean look at Dar, Zar, and—”
“Jane, focus,” I snapped. “This is not the time to be thinking about names. Obviously, something happened to Xia and Tia and we need to figure out what so we can help them.”
“Ask them about their mother,” Zula interjected.
Right. They’d mentioned their father, but no mother. “What about your mother? Is she with your father?”
Xia shook her head. “We never met our mother. It’s always been just our father.”
Standing, I moved over to see what I could offer them for comfort food. We were low on rations, planning to restock after we collected on the latest bounty Jane had bagged. While I rummaged for something young Mazatimzs might enjoy, I continued to talk, since I was the only one the twins could understand.
“What else can you tell us about where you were? Is your father in danger? We want to help you, so the more we know …” I pulled out vanilla wafer cookies, my attention temporarily diverted. Technically they were from Jane’s Earth food stash, but I’d been sneaking them, and I had a feeling the girls would enjoy them as well.
Smiling, I placed the tin of cookies on the table, shoving several in my mouth to put Xia and Tia at ease, even though they did seem to trust me already.
“Are those mine?” Jane hissed.
“We can get you more.” I grabbed another cookie, nibbling on it as I asked, “Please tell me about your father. What’s his name? And do you know where you were exactly?”
Xia snatched several cookies, offering one to Tia who took it hesitantly. “We don’t know much. But the place where we were was called Telvin, and our father’s name is Eron.”
Nausea rolled through me, and my vision wavered. Telvin. Eron. No. It’s impossible. It has to be a coincidence. There’s no way—
A little girl’s scream met my ears just as everything went dark.
Weak. I have to pretend I’m still weak.
I had no idea how much time had passed since I’d been brought to this place, even though I wasn’t sure where here was. Without my translator implants, I was only able to garner bits and pieces of information. It felt like years since I’d last seen Eron, or any of my kind. I was kept in a small, sterile room that only housed a cot for me to sleep on, or rather collapse from exhaustion on, and a tiny private bathroom that held a shower, toilet, and sink. The only other room I’d seen was what I thought of as a laboratory. There my blood was drawn daily, and sometimes bone marrow. Those were the easy parts. The rest—I shuddered—the rest was too gruesome to let my mind dwell on.
I have to get out. I have to escape and find Eron.
Lately my captors had been lax with me, secure with my docile and broken act. I may not be a fighter, but there were other ways—there were always other ways.
Waiting for the lock to turn on the outside of my prison, I scurried to the toilet and spit out the drugs they forced me to take nightly. No one questioned my consumption of the pills when I acted the same.
I simply had to wait for an opportunity. I hoped and prayed for one every second of every day.
“She’s coming to.” Jane’s voice penetrated my consciousness as I was yanked from my painful memory.
“There was nothing wrong with her physically. Something emotionally traumatic caused her brain to shut down to escape,” Tia’s timid voice wavered as she explained my situation.
Groaning, I sat up, greeted by the sight of what I liked to think of as my office, the hospital or medical wing. I met first Jane’s and then Zula’s concerned gazes. “I know you can understand them, but we need to make it so they can understand you … and everyone.”
Jane grunted. “Just like a damn Mazatimz to be thinking of someone else right after— You dropped like a rock and scared the crap out of us!”
“I wasn’t worried. Concerned a bit, but not worried,” Zula stated. “You were the only one worried, Jane. Well, and the twins were worried, too. Although I suppose that’s a Mazatimz trait.”
My lips curled up despite the situation. “Nice to know you care, Jane.” Our brash captain cared a lot more about her crew than she ever wanted us to know. It was a defense mechanism for her. She wasn’t fooling any of us, though, least of all me.
I swung my legs over the side of the cot, making my way on shaky legs over to a storage locker. “Xia, Tia, I want to get translators in you both right away. I want you to be able to understand everyone. And then we’re going to finish our talk.”
Grabbing two sterile packages of translators from the locker, I turned to face the girls. Luckily, I kept spare translators on hand because Jane had a habit of damaging hers and I’d had to swap them out more than a few times. The procedure, when done by a Mazatimz, was painless and completed within minutes.
“Who wants to go first?”
Xia stepped in front of her twin. “I will.”
“Okay, just sit on the table and turn your head.”
After installing the translators in the twins, exhaustion had finally caught up to them. They were both sleeping fitfully on one cot tucked into the corner of my living quarters. I had offered them their own room, but they’d insisted on staying close to me, which was understandable under the circumstances. I was a Mazatimz and familiar to them in that way alone.
I gazed down at the sleeping girls, studying their features. Do their eyebrows have the same slope as Eron’s, or is it just my imagination? And what about the strong, straight line of their noses, is that Eron’s stamp on their genetics, or more wishful thinking?
Because if Xia and Tia were my Eron’s children then that meant he was alive. The fact that he’d possibly fathered offspring with another woman was irrelevant. If he remained a captive of Telvin, then it was possible he had been forced to create Xia and Tia, or they could have been part of an experiment. With what I knew, which wasn’t much, anything was possible. Even the Eron who is their father not being my Eron is a possibility. After all, the name is pretty common for Mazatimz males.
I wanted so desperately for Eron to be alive. The day I’d escaped from Telvin was the day I’d discovered he was dead. But I never actually saw the body. I’d pulled up his file within Telvin’s system, searching for a clue on his whereabouts and— The image of ‘deceased’ scrolled across his file in big red letters nearly caused me to join him in grief. And yet, I’d managed to go on—to escape.
“No. What did I do?” My knees suddenly weak, I sagged onto my bed, my mind reeling.
Did I leave Eron behind to suffer all these years? What about our connection? Wouldn’t I have felt him at some point? I turned my focus inward, searching for any signs of the invisible tether that was our Metza bond, but came up empty. I wanted to believe he lived, even if it meant I’d abandoned him, but a part of me felt it was impossible.
Pulling myself slowly to my feet, I crept over to the sleeping girls, swirling my hands through the air around them. If Eron was their father, then I should be able to recognize the feel of his energy within them. Until a Mazatimz has fully matured, the energy of the parents’ genetics lingered within every cell.
Strong Metza power zinged along my skin, jolting me. The twins would be formidable healers when they grew up, almost as talented as Eron and I had been on our way to being. But that was all I picked up on—a heaping dose of healing energy, no confirmation or denial of their genetics in regards to Eron.
Pushing a wave of calm and relaxation into the girls, I was confident the pair would sleep without nightmares or wake for at least a few hours. I had no idea what kind of horrors they’d suffered at the hands of the Telvin people, although I had a pretty good idea.
I have to talk to Zula. She’ll help me figure this out.
My thoughts swirled around Eron as I went in search of Zula in a fog, blindly clomping through the halls of The Pittsburgh, hoping to stumble upon my genius friend. Jane was good for brawn, and any kind of action. If I needed a reckless plan carried out, she was my girl. But Zula helped me see past my emotions to analyze situations, something that was difficult as a healer. I wasn’t rash like Jane, but I felt so much all the time. And at the moment I’m about to have a meltdown.
“Where are you going?” Zula’s voice broke into my haze, halting me abruptly.
Swiping a hand across my eyes to brush away the brimming tears, I gave her a tiny, relieved smile. “I wasn’t going anywhere in particular. I was looking for you.”
“It’s about your past, isn’t it? You’ve never talked about it, and ever since those girls arrived …” Zula eyed me speculatively. “Where do you want to talk?”
Shifting, my eyes darted around, taking in my surroundings. We were near the medical wing. Figures my feet would bring me here automatically. “We can talk in the infirmary.” I turned, shuffling along, knowing Zula would follow.
Before we’d reached our destination, Zula began pelting me with questions. “What do you know about those girls? Do you know what was done to them? Why would they be left vulnerable? I was taught that Mazatimzs, especially children, are kept under lock and key. If—”
“Stop. Okay? I’ll answer all of your questions, but you’re going to have to let me talk. And I will.” I slumped onto a cot, Zula doing the same directly across from me, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. “I’m the one who was looking for you, remember?”
Zula shifted forward, perching her elbows on her knees. Although she remained mute, waiting, impatience rolled off of her in palpable waves. I expected no less. It was her eagerness to solve any puzzle presented to her that would aid me in my plight.
Exhaling a long breath through my nose, I nibbled on the inside of my cheek, pondering where to begin. “I’ve been running from my past. I didn’t just yearn to get out into the Universe like so many of my kind get the itch to do. I was never meant to leave my home, I … we were too valuable. And yet,” I choked back a sob, “we, my Metza and I, were stolen so easily.”
Zula leaned back, surprise twisting her blue tinged features. “Metzas. You are half of a Metza pairing. But where—”
“I thought he was dead. Killed by the same people who had taken us.” I swallowed around the huge lump in my throat. “But now I’m not so sure. Now I think that Eron may still be alive and he may also be the twins’ father.”
