"That," Sabrina said, surveying the pod's wreckage with her hands on her hips, "was a bad landing." Fortunately, the pod had been made so that occupants could survive inexpert or semi-conscious piloting.
"We walked away," Ford croaked out from where he lay sprawled on the ground beside her. He'd mostly retreated into his own mind again, so that he could make his body move out of the pod after curtly rejecting Sabrina's offer to carry him, or more likely drag him.
I walked, you crawled, she thought, but didn't say. "We have to get under cover as soon as possible. If the wind picks up, the crystal particles in the air could shred our lungs." It's like the Planet of Asbestos, she grumbled to herself. With ghosts thrown in, for good measure.
She caught a stray echo of Ford's accusatory question about the location of her combat helmet and gloves, and shot back a wordless reply that amounted to a reasonably obscene gesture. "Anyway it wouldn't have helped you. At least I still have my blaster."
"Ah yes. Reissians," Ford grunted, pulling himself upright again. He hadn't been injured, but he was having trouble concentrating on movement with the crystal dissonance burning through him. It was even worse than on the pod; he was functional only because of the foothold he kept in Sabrina's mind.
Sabrina turned away, knowing her help wasn't wanted and afraid Ford would misinterpret her gaze as pity or, God forbid, hovering. They'd had one nasty, though silent, exchange on the subject already. She studied the desolate landscape around them and tried not to let it discourage her further.
They'd chosen a mountainous area; the plains had been occupied by Pharon cities and were the most dense areas of crystal contamination. That had made landing the pod a tricky proposition, but it would also help them hide from the Reissians, if they came to the surface. Sabrina hoped for labyrinthine caves with a passion she hadn't thought herself capable of. She hated caves, especially caves with crystal and possibly Reissians on the way. But it was marginally better than being in the open, especially with the moving air a threat to their lungs.
"We're the first people to set foot here in ten thousand years," Sabrina said, turning a complete circle. This planet had been the origin point for the Wayfarers and the Deltarrans, hence the Miahns, and possibly other races as well. What little hard facts she'd been able to glean about the Pharon race suggested that they had seeded other planets, intending to harvest slave labor. And their artifacts looked strikingly Egyptian to her. She had to wonder if there was a connection.
"We're not here to do archaeology," Ford told her, laying a heavy hand on her shoulder as he struggled for balance on the rocky ground. "And ten thousand years is too few. But we're not here to debate history, either."
"Right. We've got to get into good cover. Then we can debate history while we wait for the Reissians, and you can patronize me all you like," Sabrina said, trying to sound less sarcastic than she felt.
"Promises, promises," Ford sighed. "There are a few caves up the slope a bit. Shall we climb?"
"You go first. I'll catch you if you slip."
"And who's going to catch you?"
"My combat boots. Go on!" Sabrina commanded.
"If we had your helmet, we could use the blaster energy pack to boost the com system and signal Rudolf for help," Ford groused, reaching for his first handhold on the slope.
Sabrina tried to squelch her guilt-stricken reaction to the thought of how she'd left the ship, but Ford caught it. "You didn't even try!" he said in astonishment.
"I did try! He had a shield!" she shot back. "And I yelled for Rudolf, but he didn't come in time."
"You gave that madman my ship!" He stopped trying to climb and turned to face her. "You practically handed him the access codes!"
"I did no such thing! I don't even know them!"
"I was speaking metaphorically! You could at least have tried to wreck the controls or something to impede him! He's probably centuries and parsecs from here by now!"
"Oh please. Like it matters where the hell he is at this point! I'm more concerned with where we are. Now climb!"
"I just can't believe you, Sabrina Devon! My ship, my whole life, and you just let him waltz off with it!"
Sabrina stifled a scream of frustration. "You have your life because of what I did! Okay, so it didn't turn out like I wanted it either, but you're alive, not in pieces in the escape pod or lying here unconscious waiting to be found by the Reissians! Those were the options, Ford. I could have gone with him and found some way to sabotage the ship, sure. But what good would that do if you were down here dead? Or a hostage? I had to choose. I chose you. I'm sorry if you think that was a mistake. But it's done now, so shut up and climb or I'll knock you out and drag your sorry ass up that hill myself!"
She felt him hesitate between a cutting remark and humor at the mental image her declaration produced, and silently pleaded for his understanding. He sighed and began climbing, and she decided that was the best she could hope for under the circumstances.
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Scotty and Mukryilla had assumed they would find the new parents in the nursery, but neither were there, a fact that annoyed Imari, currently presiding over the establishment "in the absence of those who should be," as she put it. Scotty kept his mouth shut and let Mukryilla excuse them both, merely snatching a peek at his newest cousin. Imari would have to be informed if the matter dragged on, but for now their actions needed only Mara's approval.
They found Mara pacing her bedroom, ignoring Tirqwin's urgings to get back in bed and rest. They both looked up when Mukryilla and Scotty entered the room, then glanced at each other. Scotty knew they were drawing dire conclusions via their link, and suddenly realized that Mara would have noticed she could no longer feel Ford via the Great Crystal. He wondered if Khediva had told Tirqwin what was happening.
"Niavar is in trouble," Mara stated flatly.
"We don't know that yet, your majesty," Mukryilla said.
"There are few places in the universe he would be out of communication with the Great Crystal. None of them are places he should be, or has any reason to be!" Mara said in frustration. Scotty was surprised her hair wasn't floating restlessly, a familiar expression of barely contained power, until he realized that she hadn't recovered enough from Seuréa's birth to actively wield crystal energy.
"Homeworld sent him after Malvarak, who was reported to be in the Pharon system," Scotty blurted out, feeling it was best to get it over with. Mukryilla should have reprimanded him, but she didn't. Maybe she was relieved the news had come from a family member.
Mara wilted onto the bed. Tirqwin sat down beside her, equally stricken. Then he said, "How do you know?"
"We had Wayship Khediva decode the message for confirmation," Mukryilla said. "But we already had the information from another source." She looked at Scotty.
He cleared his throat. "Sabrina must've been there when he left. She left me a message on her comconsole telling me what happened. She, uh...she went with him."
There was a moment of profound silence. Scotty searched for something else to say. "She told me she'd bring him back. She wanted to make sure you knew she said that."
Mara let out a soft moan. Tirqwin closed his eyes as if in pain. Then, at last, Mara spoke. "At least he is not alone," she sighed. Then she drew a deep breath. "Well. I am sure you did not come to see me without a plan. So, what are we doing to retrieve them?"
Scotty let out a quiet sigh of relief as Mukryilla began speaking. The worst was over, he thought. Then he caught of glimpse of Mara and Tirqwin's haunted eyes and knew he was wrong.
——————————
Sabrina stifled a cough, trying to convince herself she was only imagining the itch in her lungs, and peered down at the wrist display on her combat suit sleeve. "Two ships. Twelve Reissian life forms," she reported. "Two of them are coming up the hill toward us."
"We should go deeper," Ford urged, looking toward the rear of the cave. "If we can pick them up, they can pick us up. Besides, the air in here isn't clean. Too much dust."
He was trying not to cough too, Sabrina realized with a spurt of panic. She grasped his arm and laid it across her shoulders, steadying him as they made their way deeper into the mountain. She thought he was walking better and hoped it wasn't wishful thinking.
"The ground's not as rough here," Ford remarked, as if in response to her thought.
Sabrina paused, looking around the cave. It did seem suspiciously well-formed for a natural phenomenon. She took a step forward while studying the all-too-vaulted ceiling and pitched forward. Ford caught her, just barely, and they swayed precariously for a moment, clutching at each other, before regaining their balance.
"Steps," Sabrina said.
"Uneven. Old," Ford agreed uneasily. Sabrina could feel his trepidation at going into a place the Pharon had once inhabited. But they could hardly get any more contaminated than they were—and at this point, the more Pharon crystal resonance Ford absorbed, the more functional he would be as the dissonance lessened. Of course, that made going home even more unlikely, but they would have to deal with that later—if they could deal with their immediate problems. Right now she had no plan beyond avoiding the Reissians and waiting for rescue, which, considering the message she'd left for Scotty, was inevitable. Eventually.
Ford didn't bother vocalizing his reaction to the revelation that she'd disobeyed his instructions about revealing their destination. It was, she felt, mostly exasperation, with a tiny bit of relief mixed in. "Cheer up," she told him, having just had a happy thought herself. "They'll be looking for your ship. They'll find it and catch Malvarak, since he probably won't be able to find the matrix before they get here. The mission will be accomplished. We'll go hang out on a vacation planet until we can go home again."
He shook his head, but she heard his internal chuckle. "Too easy, Sabrina. How are you going to deal with the Reissians?"
"Why does it have to be me?" she complained. "I've done my share of Reissian encounters. It's your turn. Come on. Let's get into hiding and then you can impress me with your brilliant plan."