In Nadir's Shadow (The Twilight Years of the Commonwealth, Book One)

Chapter Six

Miron awoke on a bed in the infirmary. Another man lay next to him, muttering and twitching in his sleep. He raised himself up on his elbows and saw Rurik and a female orderly on the far side of the room, leaning over another patient. Miron managed to work himself into a sitting position before the doctor heard him move and came over. Stubble lined the doctor's gaunt cheeks. "Slow down, Commander. There are some drugs in your system that will take a little time to wear off. How do you feel?"

"What drugs?"

"Sedatives. You've been sleeping for the past fourteen hours."

"Fourteen hours?" He grabbed the doctor's coat and pulled him closer. Though his vision narrowed and the world spun, he forced himself to speak: "Don't ever give me sedatives again. Those are for the crew. Do you understand?"

A calm nod. Miron released the man's coat and almost fell back. Rurik waved off the orderly, who turned away after an acerbic stare at Miron.

"I'll respect your wishes, Commander, but if you intend to remain effective, you're going to have to give yourself some consideration," Rurik said. "I'd heard you were helping out the engineers, but no one told me you were working double shifts there in addition to your Control time, and regular visits to all ship's departments. If they had, I'd have found you and told you to slow down."

"Everybody's working hard."

"Not this hard," Rurik replied, his tone decisive. "You need more sleep, or you will break down. If you have trouble managing that, then it's time to reconsider your stance on medications."

Miron looked away. "How is Ilari?"

Rurik answered him in an even tone: "She's over there."

"She's comatose," the orderly said with an edge.

Miron ignored the woman. "What's wrong with her?"

The doctor hesitated. "Commander, have you read her file?"

"Not entirely."

A brief look of grief and regret passed over the doctor's face. "I suppose it wouldn't have made much difference. This isn't the first time Ilari's experienced an incorporeal attack. When they salvaged the Relentless, she was the only survivor. They found her in an equipment locker. She'd locked herself in and broken the handle, but she must have changed her mind, because she'd torn her nails off trying to get out again." He shook his head. "They should never have sent her back out here. She even requested a transfer out of shipboard service, but they rejected it."

Miron felt a sensation like ice water washing over his skin. He looked at Rurik. "One of them was in the airlock with her."

Sorrow crumpled Rurik's face. He looked for somewhere to look. "Yeah."

"Help me up."

Every limb felt drained and weak, but once he was off the table, he was able to walk slowly without assistance. They came to Ilari's bed. Deep circles underlined her eyes, and broken blood vessels discolored the pallid skin of her sunken cheeks.

"Can you do anything for her?"

Rurik gave him a searching look. At Miron's raised eyebrows, he turned to the orderly. "Esfir, Alyona's sedatives should be wearing off. Go check on her, please. She's in her bunk."

Esfir demurred, looking back and forth between Miron and the doctor. Lacking an argument to refuse, she said, "Yes, sir," and marched out.

Miron nodded after her. "What's her problem?"

"She thinks she should have gotten my posting. She also thinks you had something to do with her not getting it." Rurik turned back to him. "To answer your question officially: no, I can't."