"This is absurd, I can clean myself," Liri griped as Sasha washed her cheek with a warm cloth.
"Sit still. The side of your face is swollen and turning a yellowish-green—not your colors," Ardon said with a smirk.
"It was barely a scratch, and it doesn't hurt, so it can't be as bad as you're insisting."
Sasha picked up a round mirror, Ardon grabbed it from him before Liri could. "You don't want to see it, just trust me to tell you the truth. It needs Doc's magical touch."
"There are other people here who have been living in Hades for who knows how long. So get them settled, and then I'll let Sasha poke at me."
"They are already taken care of, and you know it since I had to carry you here to get treated because you wouldn't stop fussing over them."
"Stubborn," Sasha grumbled before grabbing the mirror from Ardon and holding it in front of her face.
Liri sucked in a sharp breath as she jerked back from her reflection. "It's oozing pus."
Ardon laughed. "I told you to trust me, but no."
She turned her head this way and that before whining, "I'm hideous."
"The left side of your face is, yeah, but the right is still beautiful."
"I don't care about that; I just don't want to be known as pus-face for the next two hundred years. Am I going to heal?" Her eyes pleaded with Sasha's spectacled ones.
"It's a simple infection. I can get rid of it in a few minutes, but you need to hold still," the Doctor said, in a calm tone as he waved a metal gadget back and forth in front of her.
"Yes, please, get rid of it." She leaned forward and tilted her head.
The UV light clicked on. Liri felt her skin tingle and slightly itch as Sasha worked his magic, moving the tube in slow circles over her swollen cheek.
"I'm surprised you didn't offer Doc new lab equipment for prettying you back up."
Her eyes snapped to Ardon. "Syd's new ship will have a state of the art infirmary."
"I like the sound of that," the captain said, from her seat across the room. A bright smile lit up her coco-kissed skin.
"Me too." Sasha made a throaty chuckle. "I'm finished, Lady Delaney."
"Thank you. What is the status of the other ships that left with shifters onboard, Syd?" She asked, lightly running her fingers over her cheek while looking in the mirror.
"I instructed them to rendezvous near the Dubrovn system's outskirts and wait for further instructions. I don't know how many made it out safely, but I'd guess over a hundred."
"And what about our new passengers? Are they doing alright?"
Syd nodded. "They have all been given food and a place to sleep."
"How are the baby and toddler that I brought aboard faring?"
Sasha finished disinfecting his equipment and started vigorously scrubbing his arms under the faucet's stream of water. "The toddler is in the care of a female of her kind, but the baby, Nalla, isn't faring well."
"Nalla?"
Sasha nodded.
"What's wrong with, Nalla?"
"I checked the information you were able to glean from Bazentine Werks and found her file. I have several theories about her condition, so I'm running tests to confirm them, and I'll have some answers for you in a few hours."
"They said they made her." Liri cocked her brow.
"True, she's a hybrid."
"Of what?"
Sasha shut off the water and dried his hands on a fresh towel. "Nalla is a Shifter and Dubrovn mix with a touch of Mantoid."
"That's not possible. They can't procreate with Dubrovn's as far as I know."
"She's a petri dish baby, so she most certainly can carry whatever genes they gave her."
"But why would anyone do that?"
"If I were to guess, it would be for their hive-mind abilities, better known as ESP," Ardon said.
"As a science man, I love testing the limits. My guess is that they wanted to see if they could do it in the first place, nothing more."
Liri frowned. "Thanks, Sasha."
Syd spoke up, "We will be arriving in Dubrovn territory in two days. You might as well relax a little while you get your case together for the authorities."
The room went silent.
"What do you mean?" Liri cocked a brow at Syd.
"I did some checking on you, Lady Liriandra Delaney. You are wanted for the murder of your parents, and I suspect the authorities won't be too happy you returned with a bunch of supposedly extinct shifters."
"I didn't kill my folks."
Syd shrugged. "I hated my parents and haven't seen them since I was ten, so I wouldn't blame you."
"I was framed."
"That's what they all say."
Setting his hand on Liri's shoulder, Ardon said, "Syd, I know she didn't do it. We think that whoever did was connected to what was happening in the Cluster. We need to question the shifters onboard and see what else we can learn from them."
"I've never seen Lady Delaney before," a weak voice drifted from a nearby recovery bed. Everyone looked to the frail raisin-looking man Ardon had carried to the Calypso. "But, I do know of Dante Delaney."
"You knew my father?" Liri moved closer to the man.
"Not really, he only came a few times, and on his last visit, he looked displeased about something. A man by the name of Sterling began showing up soon after that and demanding more strenuous tests. Delaney never returned that I was aware of."
"How do you know all that?"
He grunted as if it hurt to speak. "I've been there since the beginning of the program years ago. They stopped testing on me because I can't shift on command anymore."
"Not to be a jerk, but why didn't they kill you if you weren't any use anymore?" Ardon asked.
"I'm not sure, but I had been there so long that I'd made close acquaintances with a few of them. I guess they knew I was harmless, so kept me alive."
"What good would shifting knowledge be for a medical company?" Liri asked.
The man's eyes darted away, and he moved around as if his bed had suddenly become uncomfortable.
"You can tell me, I won't allow anything to happen to you again," Liri said softly.
The shifter remained silent.
She set her hand on his shoulder. "You can trust me."
The man smiled weakly and set his hand on hers. "I appreciate that you want to soothe me and get me to open up, but your species pheromones don't affect shifters the same way it does with others."
"How did you know?"
"It was one of the studies I underwent at Bazentine. I know physical contact is essential, plus, I can smell it."
"You have to be touching?" Ardon asked, bewilderment contorting his features.
Liri rolled her eyes and nodded.
Ardon's mouth fell open before he quickly closed it and started rubbing his beard.
"I'm sorry, Mr?" Liri tilted her head.
"They called me Seventy-six."
"Well, Seventy-six, even though Mr. Rowe could have worded it better, I still don't understand why they kept you alive."
"Mantoid's might seem cold, but they didn't want to harm anyone, just get results."
"The video I saw would say that they weren't above using punishment for not doing as they demanded."
"Results."
"That's horrendous," Syd said.
Liri nodded. "Please, Seventy-six, trust that I want only to keep you safe, but I need answers. What were they trying to accomplish?"
The shifter looked around the room and sighed heavily. "There is a chemical that our body is flooded with when we shift. That chemical can be isolated and injected into non-shifters to change their physical appearance."
"You are telling me that anyone can be changed in this way?"
"Humanoids, yes."
Liri quirked her brow. "Why would shifting be better than having surgery to alter your appearance?"
"Fingerprints, retina scans, and all the other bells and whistles that security systems can use are useless against a person who is physically identical."
Plopping onto a chair, Liri paled. After several long minutes, she said, "A fake-shifter must have killed my parents."
"That would explain why your doppelgänger was caught on camera," Ardon said.
She nodded. "I think it's time we have a chat with Sterling about his involvement in this."
"No."
Her eyes snapped to Ardon's, and she glared. "No?"
"You have more than enough evidence to clear your name or at least have the authorities looking for the true killer."
"That's not good enough. I need—"
"To clear your name, so you can help the shifters resettle on your planet. That was your plan."
Liri frowned. "I need to do more."
"It won't take long for them to realize the only thing you are guilty of is running from the law in the first place, then we can help them discover your parent's killer."
"But, I am guilty!" She jumped from her seat. "They begged me to take over the household and marry, but I didn't because I was too busy hunting wild beasts and hanging out with my friends. They were tired and ready to enjoy the fruits of their labor, but I..." Her chin quivered. "I should have done as they requested, and they'd still be alive."
Ardon stepped closer. "Liri, it's—"
"I need to take a walk," she said, before zipping out of the room.
"Liri, wait!" Ardon started after her.
"Give her some space, Rowe," Syd said. "She's strong, but has been through Hades dealing with all this and needs a minute or two to herself to process everything."
His wings sagged. "I'll give her three."