Only Human (6 page)

Nova made the final adjustments to their
course and hurried to find the ship’s medi-kit. “Don’t pull your shirt over
your head. You got glass stuck in there.”

He raised his hands while she carefully cut
what was left of the rough-spun fabric and let it fall to the floor along with
a shower of splinters.

“When did they hit you?" she asked,
watching him drop heavily onto the lounger."Move your hand. Don't bleed on
that." He stretched out and lifted his arm out of the way. A ragged wound
oozed dark blood just below his ribs. Nova was glad to see that the projectile
had only grazed him. "Your friends are living in the dark ages. I haven't
seen a bullet wound in years."

"What is darkages?" He ground his
teeth when she slipped a painkiller under his skin and used a fine beam of
light to clean and cauterize the tear. "I think it happened when I was
down. Could not see a damn thing." He did not watch her staple the wound.
"I didn't see Field Medic on your record."

She shrugged. "I only have Basic. The
rest I had to pick up during six months on Bellac. I learned fast."

"I heard about that. Civilian
casualties by the hundreds. It must have been terrible."

Nova shrugged and kept her eyes on her work.
"There. Like the day you were born," she declared. "Sort of. Lean
toward me." She checked a few cuts on his shoulders and back and removed a
splinter or two. When she pushed his hair out of the way she saw the thin line
of blue strands that grew along his spine. Carefully, she used her nails to
extract a few shards.

“Captain, I think I should tell you that,
as is the custom among my people, you are currently engaged in a sexual
act."

Nova jerked her hand back. “Oh, sorry!” She
blushed deeply, glad that he had spoken before she could comment on the silken
texture of that particular hair – likely a transgression of spectacular
proportion. “I didn’t mean to…”

He smirked and slowly sat up. “I would not
expect you to know about such things.”

"You'd better shake out your hair,”
she said, suddenly aware of their close proximity. She was unable to prevent
her eyes from moving across the smooth expanse of his chest, but did stop
herself from reaching for some of the strands that hung over his shoulders. “I
think there's glass in there, too." She handed him a moist towel to wipe
the blood from his hands and where it had pooled at the waistband of his
trousers.

He came to his feet to follow her advice.
"It is never totally dark on Delphi with all those moons. We do not see
well on nights like this." He peered at his injury before sitting back down,
wincing. "I do not know whether to reprimand you for leaving your post or
to thank you for bringing me out of there."

She packed up the medical supplies, her
movements sharp and efficient. "Don't do either. I'm not doing you any
good playing sentry on a ship that none of those people could even begin to
break into. Quit treating me like a greenie."

He raised an eyebrow.

"That was Tal Carras on Targon there,
wasn't it? You are insubordinate to bloody Colonels but you expect me to stand
at attention every time I see you. Gets pretty tiresome on a ship this size. I
am not a cadet."

He smiled. It was a warm, open smile that
involved his whole face and one that she had not seen on him before. "You
are probably right," he said.

"Of course I'm right," she
mumbled, inwardly astounded by his admission and pleased by the smile he had
given her. “Anyway, what was that all about down there? Unless they have no
sensors, going in there with an Eagle is like waving a big Union flag at them.”

“That was the point. They thought I wanted
to sell a stolen ship." He rose and headed for his cabin for a change of
clothes. “Delphian rebels are unheard of but we do have the odd thief among us.
We’re about to make the jump to Feyd. Charted jump. You'll be taking us in."

"Humans can't go to Feyd!"

"You rely too much on your textbooks.
You will be fine as long as you avoid Feyd's flowering plants. We will not be
there for very long. Unless, of course, you want to stay in orbit."

"Not likely!" she exclaimed
before realizing that he was teasing her. It wasn’t exactly clear from the tone
of his voice or his expression, but she was beginning to notice that the deep
blue of his eyes changed in intensity with his mood. It was a useful discovery.

“I think you’ll like the planet.
Interesting people. We have to meet an agent and then I have a stop to make, but
you can look at this as a day off. Pick up some clothes while we’re down there.
Something suitable for desert climate. Cold desert. If my hunch is right we're
going to take a trip to K'lar Four. I think you should start weaning yourself
off your flight suits. You are Vanguard now.” He did not seem to notice her joyful
smile when he said that.

“What stop do you have to make?”

He smiled. “Going to visit my son.”

“Your what?”

“There is a school for officers’ children
down there. Obviously not something we advertise. I’d like to visit with him
for a few hours before we go to the lower city. You can use the rec center if
you want. It’s an excellent facility.”

“Can I meet him?”

He seemed surprised. “Yes, of course, if
you wish.”

* * *

Nova had not been on this planet before. It
mattered little in wartime strategies, still out of reach of overt rebel
incursions and used mainly as a commercial and recreational destination by
Union personnel. Although most Humans suffered allergies here and found it
unbearably hot, Feyd offered a playground of lakes and rivers and some of the
most valued produce in Trans-Targon.

The Eagle landed them among a steady stream
of traffic coming and going to Talan An, the planet's oldest city. They parked
on a public airfield, tipped a few coins to a watchman and boarded a shuttle
that took them from the modern airfield across tracts of arable land, dotted
with modern farms, to the school property. They stopped near a large complex of
institutional buildings inserted like blocks into the landscape.

 Nova looked across a series of playing
fields where children of all ages and many species played under supervision.
She craned her neck at the windows of nearby buildings, seeing bits of colorful
paper stuck to the unshuttered panes.

Tychon led her into one of the buildings
and into a bright commons room. Nova smiled tentatively at the unfamiliar sight
of young children at play. The noise was deafening although the children were
loosely organized into groups, each led by an adult. Verbal expression was
obviously a valued part of the curriculum.

The pandemonium of sound and moving bodies
ebbed when Nova and Tychon were discovered. Some of the children forgot their
play and edged closer, staring at the newcomers with varying degrees of
shyness.

 "Dadda!" the shrill exclamation
caused both Tychon and Nova to turn. A small boy raced across the room to fling
himself into Tychon's arms.

 Nova watched bemused as Tychon lifted the
child high and kissed him loudly. "Kira," he sighed, holding his son
close, tousling the tightly curled hair. "Are they turning you into a
soldier yet?"

The boy nodded and began to prattle about
the school, his playmates and himself, seemingly wanting to fit all of this
information into one endless sentence. There was the race that he won against
the biggest bully of the school who beat him up for it and the kite airplane
they were building and were going to launch any day now and did Tychon know
that all babies really came from Centauri on a spaceship that came by when no
one expected it?

Nova listened to his exclamations, her eyes
on the soft expression that had stolen over Tychon's face as he knelt in front
of his son, listening to the words pour from the child in delightful confusion.

She sat down on a low table, willing to
listen for hours. But, although she had moved soundlessly, the child halted his
bright monologue in mid-sentence to study her quizzically.

"Oh, Cadet Kiran, this is my senior
officer, Captain Nova Whiteside," Tychon introduced.

The child saluted, eyeing her suspiciously.
Nova returned the gesture. "At ease, Cadet," she said, smiling at the
smaller version of Tychon.

He sent the boy to change his clothes and
took a few minutes to question the staff of the school about Kiran's progress.
Nova heard that the boy excelled at most of his tasks and was no disciplinary
problem. He showed aptitude for engineering skills and languages. One of his
teachers voiced her concern that Kiran frequently seemed withdrawn, at times
even inattentive. It was not something that was a common problem among Delphian
children.

"Of course," she added quickly,
"we are only now receiving a larger enrollment of Delphian children. We
have applied for additional staff from Delphi to help us understand them a
little better."

Tychon accepted this, eager to continue his
visit with his son. When Kiran rejoined them they strolled back to the waiting
shuttle and Nova saw her commander discard his cold remoteness as he gave all
of his attention to the child. She heard him laugh at something Kiran said and
watched with delight when the two engaged in a tickle fight. He seemed almost
relaxed.

The shuttle brought them from the lovely
countryside to a large, precise square of soaring buildings arranged around a
long manmade lake. Elevated sidewalks and pedestrian bridges teemed with well-dressed
people, most of them Centauri and many of those in uniform. The whole quarter
seemed swept clean, as new as it looked, built with Commonwealth trade currency.
Nova was torn between liking it for its newness and loathing it for its
newness.

Tychon stepped onto the sidewalk with her
when the shuttle had come to a halt in front of a towering structure of glass
and metal.

“This is the rec center I told you about.
They have everything you can possibly want here. You can use your insignia to
pay for anything here.”

“I haven’t shopped for clothes in years!”
she said, already eyeing the displays lining the street side windows.

“Women!” he scoffed.

“Yes, yes, I’ll get desert gear, too.”

He gestured back toward the shuttle. “I
will take Kira onto our usual outing. Meet me back on the airfield in four
hours."

“Beautiful child," she said.

Tychon turned to observe him fondly. Kiran
waved to them through the window. "Like his mother."

"I didn't know you're partnered."

"I was married," he said.
"Delphians have strange customs."

Nova tried to read his expression, not sure
if he was joking this time or just cynical of currently popular mating habits.
"You're not, uh, married anymore?"

"She's dead."

Nova bit her lip, a dozen well-meant
platitudes forming in her mind. They got no further when she saw the blank look
on his face. He had made a statement, nothing more; her sympathy was neither
wanted nor appreciated.

She watched him board the shuttle,
beginning to realize that, with each day that passed, her early impression of
the controlled, disciplined Delphian commander was crumbling away to show her something,
someone who wasn't so much different from anyone else she knew. Just as the
highly decorated pilots of her former squadron on Ud Mrak had turned out to be
no more than rough, tired and fed up soldiers, so this man was beginning to
show himself as something that was almost Human.

Still musing, Nova turned her attention to
the center. It was, indeed, a handsome piece of luxury. Part hotel, part
commerce center, it offered anything its visitors could want with charmless
efficiency. She visited a spa for a long and very hot bath and then shopped for
clothes that were either practical or entirely decorative. Before heading back
to meet Tychon, she sent a message to her father and ordered a few supplies to
be shipped back to the Eagle along with her purchases.

* * *

She found the Major near his plane where a
few mechanics were busy with the landing gear. He cocked his head when she
joined them, his eyes on her clothing.

“You like it?” She touched her freshly
styled hair and turned to show him one of her finds, a low-cut tunic of a breezy
fabric worn over snug breeches.

“Did you get suitable clothes for K’Lar
Four?”

She nodded, a little disappointed by his
reaction and then immediately berated herself for her vanity. What did it
matter what the Delphian thought of fashion? “Did you enjoy your time with Kiran?”

“Yes,” he said and closed the ship’s door.
“Let’s head to the meeting.”

They left the busy, modern side of the city
for the busy, ancient quarter that still went about its business much like it
had for hundreds of years. The two pilots moved slowly in response to Feyd's
high gravity as well as the torrid heat that felt much like wading into an oil
slick. Humidity enveloped them like a hot bath and no breeze moved to cool the
sweat on their bodies.

Despite the discomforts provided by Feyd's
weather, Nova enjoyed their stroll. She had spent many years either on a
military base or on a mobile station where holidays were things that other
people enjoyed. It was a welcome adventure to walk through these narrow streets
that had never felt the heavy hand of a city planner.