The Vulpirans' Honor: The Soul-Linked Saga (27 page)
Read The Vulpirans' Honor: The Soul-Linked Saga Online
Authors: Laura Jo Phillips
“Spectrum puzzle?” Michael asked, frowning. “What on...oh!” Michael leapt to his
feet and turned as though he was going to run somewhere, then paused. “Damn,” he
said. He turned back to Honey. “Thank you, Honey, that helped me figure something
out, I think. I have to go find Vikter, right now.”
“All right,” Honey said in surprise as she watched Michael race out of the clinic
without another word, the door slamming behind him. She stood up, shrugging. Whatever
it was, she hoped it was good.
“Was that Michael running out of here?” Doc asked from the doorway.
“Yes, it was,” she replied. “I gave him a message from Saige Lobo that made no sense
to me, but obviously meant something to him.”
Doc nodded, but didn’t comment. “How are you feeling, Honey?”
“I’m great, Doc,” she replied. “Looking forward to doing something worthwhile for
a change. I’m tired of sitting around.”
“That’s good news,” he said. “All four of the women you were going to see the other
day are coming in today. They’re all worried, and I don’t blame them. You up to
that many?”
“Yes, I think so,” Honey replied. “If I’m just checking, it’s not that draining.”
“If you get too tired, let me know,” Doc said. “I don’t want the Vulpirans in here
growling at me for not taking care of you.”
Honey smiled politely. She’d been trying not to think of the Vulpirans but everyone
kept bringing them up. She was too embarrassed to tell everyone that they hadn’t
even tried to see her since she’d left the clinic, and she was trying to convince
herself that it didn’t matter. She had plenty of things to be happy about, and she
was determined to count her blessings. No matter how much her secret heart was hurting.
***
Michael drove as fast as he dared along the gravel roads down to the garrison, his
pulse pounding with excitement. He tried to tell himself to be calm, and not get
ahead of himself. He could be wrong. But it wasn’t working. He knew he was right.
He just needed to confirm it.
He parked the ground-car outside the temporary fence that had been erected around
the building site and got out. He paused for a moment, astounded by how much work
had been done in such a short time. What had been a mountain of rubble a couple of
days earlier was now completely cleared. The foundations of the new Research Center
and the new infirmary were already laid out, and delivery trucks loaded with stone
and brick were waiting to be unloaded.
He spotted Vikter talking to the foreman on the back side of what would again be the
Research Center and hurried toward him. Vikter saw him coming and frowned. Michael
saw him dismiss the foreman and call Lance and Hunt to join him before walking toward
Michael and meeting him half way.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Michael assured him, understanding that Vikter’s first thought
had been Honey. “Honey just told me that she got a message for me from Saige Lobo
the other day, and as soon as I heard it, things fell into place for me.”
“A message from Riata,” Vikter said, excited by the prospect. “What was the message?”
“That time was running short, and the
spectrum puzzle
needed to be solved,” Michael said, not remembering the exact words in his excitement.
“
Spectrum puzzle
?” Lance asked. “What does that mean?”
“I’ll explain,” Michael said. “But first, I need to see the bio-suit.”
“All right,” Vikter agreed readily. He turned around and walked back across the building
site to where the biggest lab had been in the Research Center. He waved one hand
and a large square of earth rose up, then slid aside, leaving a set of stairs leading
down to the room sized vault where the bio-suit had been safely stored. Michael followed
Vikter down the stairs, waiting impatiently until he opened the door and went inside,
flipping on the bright, overhead lights powered by an emergency generator.
Michael went straight to the bio-suit and looked inside. When he turned around to
face the Vulpirans his excitement was almost palpable.
“It’s been bugging me for days now, that something wasn’t adding up, but I couldn’t
put my finger on it. I went over all of the results from the tests you ran on the
Xanti, and one of them, I’m certain, indicated that the Xanti do not see as we do.
Their eyes are incapable of seeing color; all they see is light, dark, and limited
shades of gray. There is some rudimentary heat sensing ability, but the primary organ
for that is their mandibles if I remember correctly.”
Vikter nodded. “Yes, that’s correct. We believe that they normally rely on scent
and taste rather than eyesight, by nature. Their technology is vision-dependent,
however, which seems strange until you remember that their technology is not their
own.”
“Exactly,” Michael said. “Aisling Gryphon told me that her father had gathered information
on the Xanti over his life-time, and that the Xanti enslaved other races to create
and build everything they used. Which fits with the fact that they don’t have a creative
brain, as I told you.”
“Yes, it does,” Vikter said. “We found it odd that the primary sense requirement
for the technology we’ve seen, like the bio-suits, is vision since theirs is not that
good. But that’s explained by the source of their technology.”
“Exactly,” Michael said. “One thing explains the other, and is upheld by yet another.
I’ve been running this circle for days. Something didn’t fit, and I could not figure
out what it was. But, here, look inside the bio-suit.”
Vikter walked over to the bio-suit and looked inside. It took only a moment for understanding
to hit. “It’s in color,” he said.
“Exactly,” Michael said. “There are colors on the dials and switches. There are
colored arrows with lettering above them. Colored labels, colored text.”
Vikter turned and looked inside the bio-suit again. Michael was right. There were
colored labels and signs on everything, including a big blue square on the rear wall
with red text across it. Some of the symbols looked like warnings, others appeared
to be directions, especially the arrows and circles.
Vikter turned back to Michael with a frown. “So the question is, why are there directions
and warnings given in color, when the Xanti do not see color.”
“More than that, I bet if we put a mono-spectral light source inside that bio-suit,
those colors will disappear altogether. The Xanti cannot see color, nor can they
see the difference between the colors and the background that the colors are on because
those colors all have the same grayscale value.”
“Maybe the colors are meant for whatever race created it,” Lance said.
“I can’t read Xanti,” Vikter said, “but I recognize the script and all of the directions
and labels inside this thing are written in that language.”
“That’s not going to do the Xanti much good if they can’t see it,” Hunt said. “If
the Xanti are not meant to see this, then who is? And what does it mean?”
“The beings who create and build for the Xanti are clearly intelligent, as proven
by the technology they produce,” Vikter said, speaking slowly as he tried to work
through the problem. “They are enslaved by the Xanti, so they certainly want to be
free. If that’s true, the question becomes how can they get a message out, past the
Xanti, to those of us who might be able to help them?”
“You think the colors are a message,” Lance said to Michael, his voice vibrating with
excitement. “That’s it, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s exactly it,” Michael said. “Those beings are smart, and they know their
enemy far better than we do. They used color to get their message out and hoped we
had enough brains to figure it out.”
“So what’s the message?” Hunt asked. “What are they trying to tell us?”
“The message Honey gave me was that the
spectrum puzzle
had to be solved,” Michael said. “That’s the key. The colors are a code. We have
to figure out where the beginning is, then go from there, either left to right, top
to bottom, bottom to top. It may take awhile as we don’t know what direction the
beings who did this write in. Then we assign values to each color according to their
position on the color spectrum.”
“This is ingenious,” Lance said softly as he stared at the bio-suit in amazement.
“Where do you want to start?” Vikter asked Michael.
“With images,” Michael said. “We need to see every color inside that thing and it’s
relationship to every other color.”
Lance was turning on the vid-terminal as Michael spoke. “They’re all right here,”
he said, stepping away so that Michael could sit down.
“Good,” Michael said. “Now all I need is time.”
“We’ll leave you to it then,” Vikter said.
“All right,” Michael said, already half engrossed in the images on the screen in front
of him. Then a thought occurred to him. “Lance,” he said, stopping them as they
were about to go through the door. “Maybe it would be a good idea to vox Elder Vulpiran
and tell him about this. They can start trying to decode the bio-suit they have.
I don’t know if the messages will be the same or not, but we should find out.”
“I will do that right away, Michael,” Lance replied, not mentioning that he’d already
planned to do that. “Good luck, and let us know if you need anything.”
Michael nodded and turned back to the screen. He never stopped to wonder about the
part of Saige’s message warning that time was running short. Neither did the Vulpirans.
***
Vikter, Lance, and Hunt climbed out of the vault, excited by the prospect of new knowledge
to use against the Xanti. It didn’t lighten their hearts, but it was still good news.
“Michael is turning out to be a valuable asset,” Lance said.
“Yes, he is,” Vikter replied. “I am glad we found him and invited him here, aside
from the fact that he brought Honey with him.”
“Why didn’t we ask him about the papers?” Hunt asked.
“Because what he is doing now is more important than our personal wishes,” Vikter
replied, his tone indicating that he did not want to discuss that matter further.
It was eating at him as much as it was eating at his brothers. But they had more
important matters to deal with at the moment. More important to their people as a
whole, if not more important to them.
“Lance, call Elder Vulpiran and share Michael’s discovery with him,” he said. “Hunt,
call the barracks. I want no fewer than six armed men covering the entrance to the
vault. No rookies. I want a mix of three soldiers and one male-set, and I want a
rotating roster every three hours for as long as Michael is down there. Ask the cafeteria
to send meals over for him regularly too. I have a feeling he’ll be there for awhile
and absolutely nothing is to interrupt or endanger him.”
“What are you going to do?” Lance asked.
Vikter knew what he wanted to do. What his brothers wanted him to do. He clenched
his fists tightly, then stretched his fingers out before shaking them. “I’m going
back to work,” he said resolutely. He ignored his brothers’ expressions of disappointment
and went looking for the foreman to finish their discussion. He would be patient.
They would be patient. If it killed them.
***
Honey saw the last patient out and went to Doc’s office.
“You all right?” he asked as she entered and lowered herself into the chair beside
Jareth in front of Doc’s desk.
“I’m good,” she replied. “Thanks for coming down, Jareth. I feel better knowing
that you were unable to find any more of that poison in Arima Gryphon-Hiru.”
“I am glad that you called me, Honey,” Jareth said. “I enjoy watching you work.
It is difficult for me sometimes, knowing that I can heal the mother, but not the
babes she carries. It makes me feel such relief that you are able to do what I cannot.”
“I understand what you mean,” Honey said. “I wish I could help the mothers as I help
the babies. But I cannot heal everyone, as you do. I can heal only those not yet
born.”
“Are you able to heal defects, like a deformed heart?” Doc asked.
“Yes, if I catch it early enough,” Honey replied.
“When you do that you don’t draw the deformity to yourself, obviously,” Jareth said.
“Otherwise, you would not be here.”
“No, I don’t,” Honey replied. “I’ve never drawn anything to myself before as I did
with these poison burns. But then, I’ve never come across a fetus with external injuries,
either. Nor have I ever worked on a Jasani mother. I don’t know if those are factors
or not. I only know that I was able to help, and the babies are now fine.”
“Spoken like a true healer,” Doc said. Honey smiled tiredly. She was thrilled to
be able to use her gift openly, but it was draining.
“Doc, I’m curious about something,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“I noticed that Carly’s last name is Gryphon-Hiru. And I saw a file for an Arima
Bearen-Bat. Are these women related to the Gryphons and Bearens I know, or are they
completely different families?”
“They’re all essentially the same family,” Doc replied. “Each Clan ranks its own
members. The highest rank is Consul. Consuls represent the Clan in meetings and
major decisions, such as Enclave. The next five levels are named one through five
in the ancient Jasani tongue. Bat is one, Ti is two, Hiru is three, Lau is four,
and Bost is five. Therefore, Gryphon-Hiru is the third ranked male-set in the Gryphon
clan, below Consul. Bearen-Bat is the first ranked male-set below Consul.”
“What about all of those below the fifth rank?” she asked.
“They go by their clan name, as the Consuls generally do,” Doc said. “It can be confusing
for those unfamiliar with the people in each clan, but as they consider themselves
all one family, it doesn’t matter much to them.”
“That seems simple enough,” she said. “Thanks for the explanation, Doc.”
“I have one question for you, and then I’ll let you go,” Doc said.
“Shoot,” Honey replied.
“Will Arima Carly’s babies have scars? I ask because it’s been several days now since
the injuries were inflicted.”
“I know, and I was worried about that too,” Honey said. “But no, their skin is blemish
free now. In a few months, the Gryphons will have three very strong, determined,
and healthy sons.”
“Thank you, Honey,” Doc said. “Now, get on out of here. Go home and get some rest.
That’s doctor’s orders, by the way.”
“Yes, Sir,” Honey said, smiling as she stood up to leave. She said good-bye to Jareth,
then grabbed her purse and left the clinic, pausing for a moment to breathe in the
cool, late afternoon air. Winter was coming, she realized. So much had happened
in such a short time, much of it good. But there were problems too.
She had no money, for one thing. She was pretty sure Michael would give her some
if she asked, she just hadn’t asked yet. She had no home and no idea how she was
going to provide one for herself and Nica. Then, there were the Vulpirans. She knew
it was ridiculous, but she couldn’t help but feel as though they’d abandoned her.
Suddenly, she felt completely overwhelmed and found herself standing there, staring
at the sky, crying.
“What’s the matter, Honey?”
Honey spun around, startled, and gasped with nervous relief when she saw Saige Lobo
walking toward her. Their house was only a few steps from the clinic, so it shouldn’t
have been that big of a surprise.
“I’m sorry,” Saige said. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“I was just lost in my own thoughts,” Honey said, trying to wipe her tears on her
sleeves, hoping Saige didn’t notice.
“I was just going to invite Doc up for dinner,” Saige said, looking up at the sky
rather than at Honey. “You’re welcome too, if you like.”
“Thanks, Saige, but I need to get back to the Bearens’. Nica will be expecting me.”
“Honey, I don’t mean to pry,” Saige said hesitantly, still not looking at Honey’s
tear streaked face. “But you seem so sad. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“I’m just feeling a bit at loose ends, I suppose,” Honey replied with a shaky sigh.
“Hope is very kind, but Nica and I can’t stay there as a houseguest forever. We need
a home of our own, and a way to furnish it. Everything we own except what we brought
in a couple of suitcases is back on Earth and gone forever. I have a job, so that’s
good, but no money right now, and Nica is growing so fast that she really needs new
clothes. Plus, I need to come up with a solution for her regarding school, and other
kids her age. And, I’ll need someone to be with her while I’m at the clinic, or the
infirmary, because I can’t keep asking Hope and Aunt Berta, but again, I have no money
to pay someone.”
As Honey listed her problems, her voice got more and more hoarse, and Saige knew she
was fighting tears. And why not? The poor woman was nearly buried beneath a mountain
of worries and fears. “Nothing out of the ordinary,” Hope said finally, trying to
laugh. “Regular life stuff.”
Saige was surprised, angry, and confused. She argued with herself for a moment.
She didn’t really have any right to ask Honey personal questions. They barely knew
each other. Then she decided to heck with it. “Honey, what about the Vulpirans?
Aren’t they helping you with some of these things?”
As soon as she said
Vulpirans
, Saige knew she’d hit on the biggest problem of all. She watched as Honey blushed,
dropped her eyes to the ground and shrugged again.
“My problems aren’t their problems, Saige. They asked Michael here, not me.” Then
she looked up and stretched her lips into a smile. “I haven’t even seen them since
the explosion. Now that Michael and I are apart, I suppose there’s no reason for
them to visit me. Well, I better get going now,” she said, too brightly. “Thanks
for listening to me whine. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” Saige replied. She watched as Honey went to her ground-car, climbed
in and drove off. Then she turned on her heel and went back into her house.
“Faron!” she called, too impatient to go waddling through the house looking for him.
“What is it?” Faron demanded as he burst from the meeting room and ran down the hall
toward her. “Is something wrong? Shall I call Doc?”
“No, I’m fine, but something is definitely wrong,” Saige said.
“I don’t understand,
amada
,” he said, frowning.
“Call Dav and Ban,” she said. “We need to talk.”