Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The heat from the twin suns settled heavily over the hard-packed dirt road and the scrubby desert land surrounding the dome and the assorted cluster of buildings that was the town, creating an oppressive atmosphere. The light bouncing off the ground and walls was almost blinding and burned Ronan’s eyes, making him squint against the brightness. Ronan had wanted to see outside the Dome, to see the town and desert land for himself, but this was far worse than he’d imagined. His people didn’t like the heat, it wasn’t that they couldn’t tolerate it, they just didn’t like it. The heat made his skin prickle and itch, and he wondered how Lilly tolerated it in her dark robe.

Ronan felt Tyrell tug on the rope and quickened his pace as he tried to get a lay of the land. Several miles away to the right of the Dome was the spaceport. He could see the dirt and sand landing field shimmer in the heat and an enormous grey ship firing its thrusters as it came in for a landing. Past the spaceport and running to its left and right was dark green scrubby vegetation that gave way to towering trees. Ronan remembered what Lilly had told him and his men that past the spaceport, water bubbled up to the ground, forming a swamp, and then beyond it a forest.

The oddity of a desert bordering on a swamp and then a forest was not lost on Ronan, the nameless planet he was on had obviously been created by a supreme being with a twisted sense of humor. Ronan felt the rope pull and returned his attention to the way before him as he saw Tyrell leading them toward what appeared to be the main road that ran straight through the settlement. In the distance, he saw three massive multi-story buildings rising up high above the rest of the settlement and Ronan knew without being told that they were the other pleasure centers.

As they progressed down the dusty, hot road road Ronan saw a variety of ground transports, some with wheels and some hover-powered, moving down the road throwing up dust clouds as they wove around pedestrians. Running along both sides of the street were light-colored buildings of various sizes, heights, and designs; the only thing similar about them was that they all had sun awnings that extended out from their fronts to cover the sidewalk in front of them.

Ronan felt Tyrell tug on the rope again and realized he’d slowed his pace to study the town as they approached; he looked quickly over his left shoulder to see that Lilly was obviously having a hard time keeping up with them and the rapid pace Tyrell had set.

“You need to slow down, Lilly can’t keep up,” Ronan said, stopping to pull back hard on the rope and throwing Tyrell off balance.

Tyrell spun to glare at him and jerked back hard on the rope, barely moving Ronan’s muscular bulk. “We can’t, we need to get to the Hive, and if Laoni has planned some sort of trap, I don’t want to be attacked out on the street.”

“And how do you know we aren’t going to be attacked where we are going?” Ronan growled in annoyance as the relentless heat made his skin prickle and sweat running down his back

“I don’t, but I am friends with the head enforcer at the Hive, very good friends. If we are in danger, he will protect us now get moving. Also, it’s too hot to be standing in the middle of the road arguing.” Tyrell retorted, as he used his right sleeve to blot the sweat running down his face. “And Lilly knows where we are going, now move.”

“Fine, but only if you walk slower, I don’t like the heat either.” Ronan snapped glaring at Tyrell as sweat began running down his neck.

“All right, just as long as you keep walking,” Tyrell replied before turning back to return heading down the street at a much slower pace.

Ronan paused to see that Lilly had almost caught up and, with a mumbled curse turned to follow Tyrell at a much slower pace.

* * * *

Lilly fought a wave of dizziness followed by a wave of nausea that threatened to make her meager breakfast come up. In the cooler environment of the Dome, the nausea hadn’t seemed so bad, she’d even gone out this morning before it had gotten too hot but now the heat combined with her out-of-control hormones threatened to make her ill. She wouldn’t be ill in the middle of the street; it would be disgusting and make Ronan suspicious and even more protective than he already was.

Lilly pushed down the nausea that was assaulting her and took a deep breath as she watched Ronan and Tyrell get further away, she’d just have to push through the discomfort ad follow them. As Lilly picked up the front of her robe preparing to jog after the others she saw two tall blue-skinned males in dark blue uniforms separate themselves from the shadows of one of the buildings and head for Ronan and Tyrell. It took only a moment for Lilly to recognize the bigger of the two males as one of the ones that had attacked her and Lars.

It didn’t take a rocket scientists to realize what Lars had overheard was an attack that was about to happen. Lilly picked up the front of her robe and began to run as fast as she could toward Ronan and Tyrell.

“Ronan, Tyrell, look out,” Lilly shouted as she raced towards them. As she got closer, she saw the bigger of the two males pull a long shiny blade from his tunic. He was heading for Ronan; she had to save him. Putting on a last burst of speed, she tackled the male hitting him in the side with her left shoulder. The male staggered under the unexpected impact before turning to slash at Lilly with the blade in his right hand.

Lilly, stunned by the impact, took a step backwards and felt a brief pain across her chest as she struggled to regain her footing. “Ronan, Tyrell, look out.” She shouted again as the male glared at her, then took a halfhearted swipe at her before turning his attention back towards Ronan and Tyrrell. Lilly, remembering the blade Lars had given her, pulled it from her pocket and, lunging forward, sliced at the left arm and shoulder of the male she’d hit. The male let out a bellow of pain and rage and turned towards her again as Ronan and Tyrrell, alerted by her shout, turned about to see they were about to be attacked.

Ronan sensed something was wrong a moment before he heard Lilly shout his name. He turned about to see a dark blur slam into a muscular, blue-skinned male that was suddenly behind him. Tyrell, loudly cursing, the rope binding him to Ronan, spun about in time to see a dark blue-skinned male lunge at him with a long dark metal knife.

Ronan, fighting the rope binding him to Tyrell, managed to turn about in time to see Lilly swipe at his would-be attacker with a small blade. The male turned, swiping at her with his much longer blade as Ronan, with a guttural cry, snapped out his right leg to hit the male in the side and send him staggering sideways. A second attacker who’d been targeting Tyrell turned to lunge at Ronan with a long, thin knife. Ronan twisted, avoiding the attack as he snapped out his left fist to catch the male in the face, sending him staggering sideways. The male righted himself and turning from Ronan stepped towards Tyrell as Ronan’s initial attacker regained his footing and lunged for Ronan again, forcing Ronan to twist aside to avoid the blow

Tyrell, mumbling curses, pulled out his pistol and fired at the male who was lunging for him. The pistol flashed, and the male looked stunned for a second before dropping to his knees with a smoking hole in his tunic. Tyrell turned and quickly fired again, hitting the male Ronan had kicked. The male grunted and dropped his knife, the weapon clattering softly on the gravel road before his knees buckled, and he fell face forward onto the road.

“We need to move! My pistol only had two charges, and they were only strong enough to stun, not kill,” Tyrell said, holstering his weapon as Ronan turned towards Lilly.

“Lilly, Lilly, are you all right?” Ronan shouted, seeing Lilly swaying on her feet a few feet away.

Lilly lifted her right hand to her chest, which was now burning horribly, and felt something wet; she looked down at her hand to see blood. She was bleeding; she must have been cut. “I think I’m hurt,” Lilly replied a moment before her head began to spin and her legs went from under her.

Ronan saw Lilly buckle and managed to lunge forward, dragging Tyrell with him, in time to catch Lilly. Around him, pandemonium broke out as passerby’s realized that some kind of attack had happened and hurried to take a look.

Ronan eased Lilly back over his left arm and felt something wet and sticky, lifting his hand he saw blood and let out a curse.

“Get this fardeling rope off of me. Lilly has been hurt,” Ronan growled as beside him, Tyrell leveled a savage kick at the male that Lilly had been fighting with, the male made a low whimpering sound but didn’t wake up.

“One moment.” Tyrrell pulled the key from his pocket and tried to insert it in the cuffs, only to curse loudly. “That no good slimy excuse for a life form, the key doesn’t work, I can’t undo the cuffs he never wanted us to get free.”

“We need to get Lilly help and now. We need to head back.” Ronan said, getting to his feet with Lilly in his arms. Before Tyrell could answer, there was a loud boom from the direction of the Pleasure Hive, followed by a boom from the direction of the spaceport. The second explosion caused the people staring at Ronan and Tyrell to panic and scatter as a fireball shot into the air from the spaceport.

“No time, the village seems to be under attack. The next street over is a healer; follow me quickly.” Tyrell gave their attackers one last kick each before turning to his left.

“Fine, just hurry,” Ronan replied, holding Lilly close to his chest. He hurried after Tyrell, who was pushing his way through a sudden herd of panicked people of a multitude of races.

Ronan followed Tyrell a block down the street, then left for half a block down another street to a neat two-story white building with a sun emblem hanging off its awning. Tyrell stepped up to a red door and turned the handle, when the door wouldn’t open; he banged on it with his closed fists. The sound reverberating loudly on the hot air.

“Open the door, it’s Tyrell from the Pleasure Dome. I have an injured female,” Tyrell shouted before beginning to pound on the door again.

There was the sound of a bolt being pulled, and the door was opened by a short light green humanoid with grey hair and light green eyes.

“Artem let us in. I have Lilly with me, she had been injured,” Tyrell stated to the male who was blocking the door.

“Lilly, you have Lilly, of course, bring her this way. Who is the male holding her?” Artem demanded stepping back to let them in.

“He is Ronan, her mate,” Tyrell replied as he stepped into the surprisingly big entryway of the building.

Ronan took a quick look about, noting sad-looking chairs lining both walls of the long foyer and a corridor leading off to the left.

“She is bleeding, please hurry,” Ronan said, and the green-skinned male nodded.

“Yes, yes, this way to the exam room. Daria, Daria, where are you, we have a patient.” Artem bellowed loudly as he hurried ahead of Ronan and Tyrell down the corridor past two doors to a white door at the end of the corridor. He opened the door without pausing and guided Ronan into a room with two metal tables, a bio bed, and metal shelves filled with a variety of metal instruments.

“Lay her here while I get the bio scanner.” Artem indicated the first metal table before stepping to the closest shelf to pick up a round metal disc with a strap on it.

As Ronan was placing Lilly on the table, a thin female with light green skin and hair stepped into the room and hurried up to the table.

“Oh my, what has happened to Lilly?” The female gasped in horror.

“We were attacked by two males; one slashed her with a knife,” Ronan replied. “Can you help her?”

“We shall try, but first we must remove her robe. I am Daria Artem’s assistant.” The female, said reaching for the magnetic closer on Lilly’s robe to undo it.

“You know Lilly?” Ronan asked as he helped Daria remove Lilly’s robe.

“Oh, yes, for many cycles, she has been bringing us medical equipment she finds at the dump after she repaired it in exchange for lotions for her skin,” Daria said as Ronan rolled Lilly onto her left side and Daria pulled the robe off and dropped it on the floor with a dull thump.

Ronan eased Lilly back onto her back and muffled a curse at the sight of a long slash crossing from Lilly’s left shoulder to her right across her chest.

“Oh my, she is so pale and has such unusual hair. She is much lovelier than I imagined.” Daria said as Artem stepped back to the table and held the disc a few inches over the slash. An amber-yellow beam emitted from the disc to touch Lilly’s skin, as Ronan watched the skin knit, and the bleeding stopped. Artem slowly moved the beam over the length of the slash, fusing the skin and healing the gash as he went. When he was done, he handed the disc to Daria, who gave him a thin silver tube-like device attached by a long cable to a black box.

“The knitter has repaired the skin and top layer of damaged tissue. But we will have to check that there isn’t any unseen damage as well as for hidden injuries. There is no telling how deep the tip of the blade went.” Artem held the thin tube at Lilly’s forehead and began to slowly run it down her body as the box made a series of beeps.

“Will she be alright?” Ronan asked anxiously. Nothing could happen to Lilly, not now, not after she was his.

“I think so, but I won’t know until I’m done with my scan,” Artem replied.

“You have a healing bed, why don’t you use it?” Ronan nodded toward the healing bed in the middle of the room.

“Because it isn’t programmed for her species, and to use it without knowing that would be reckless. To prevent it from doing her more harm than good I would have to reprogram it to recognize her genetic pattern,” Artem replied. “I don’t even know what species she is.”

“She is from a planet called Earth, and according to Arnal, she and Gileseans are similar. He used the bed at the Dome to heal her when she was injured before.” Ronan replied, fighting the urge to take Lilly’s hand in his. He was glad the bleeding had stopped, but she still was unusually pale.

“Well, that is useful, Daria take samples of her blood and put it in the analyzer. Run a full scan on it, check for similarities to known species,” Artem said as he inched the device over Lilly’s stomach and towards her feet.

Daria stepped to one of the shelves along the back and, opening a box, pulled out two glass tubes. She then returned to Lilly’s side and pulled black stoppers from the tubes; setting the stoppers on the table beside Lilly, she removed two long sticks with white swabs on the end. Leaning over Lilly, Daria rubbed the swabs in the blood drying on Lilly’s chest till the swabs were well covered, then she dropped them back in the tubes and recorked them.

Daria held the tubes up to inspect the contents for a moment, then stepped towards the back wall where a bench-like console jutted out at waist height. She pushed a flat black disk to one side to reveal a cup-like depression; Daria slid the tubes into the depression, then slid the disk back into place covering the tubes before twisting a red knob on the console.

“That should only take a few moments. Let me clean her up while the analyzer works.” Daria returned to Lilly, holding a bottle with a clear liquid in it and a big white towel. Daria poured some of the liquid on to the towel and began to clean the blood from Lilly’s chest while Artem finished the scan then moved to the console to place the black box into a recessed caddy.

There was a flash of lights on the console, and then a screen in the wall above it lit up, displaying writing as well as several graphs that Artem scanned.

“Do you think now that she is out of danger, you might have something to remove these?” Tyrell held up his wrist showing the metal rope tying him to Ronan.

“Of course, but don’t you have a key?” Daria asked, setting aside the cloth and bottle and stepping to the shelves to retrieve a metal cylinder and a piece of metallic cloth.

“Long story there, can you free us or not?” Tyrell replied.

“Yes, I should be able to cut through it with the laser scalpel, but it will get hot. Put your wrist down on the edge of the table. I’ll slip the cloth under the cuff to protect your skin, and then I should be able to cut through it.” Daria replied, motioning for Tyrell to do as she’d said.

Ronan had waited as long as he could sand it, he wanted to know if Lilly was all right. “Well, is she all right?” Ronan demanded.

“Yes, she should awaken any moment. The blood loss is slight, and the wound wasn’t deep, but…” Artem stepped back to Lilly to check her pulse at her neck.

“But what?” Ronan snarled in annoyance, wanting to know what was wrong with Lilly.

“She is pregnant, several weeks along with twins, according to the readings.” Artem gave Ronan a smile as Ronan’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Are you sure? Is she well? Are they well?” Ronan was having a hard time grasping the reality of Artem’s words.

“Yes, she is well as our babies. She should awaken in a moment. I suspect the heat, the excitement, combined with the pain and blood loss from the wound, rendered her unconscious. The scanner says she is a bit dehydrated. Once she awakens, we can try to get her to drink something.” Artem replied. “I will check the results of the genetic scan to see if it tells us anything helpful, though I am guessing congratulations are in order. This is good news, is it not?”

Before Ronan could reply, there was a muffled boom and the walls shook, causing the instruments and bottles lining the shelves to rattle loudly. Daria, who’d just finished cutting through Tyrell’s wrist cuff, squeaked in surprise and jumped, nearly dropping the cutter.

Tyrell pulled his wrist free from the opened cuff and was reaching for his comm unit when it beeped loudly. “Captain, Captain, are you there? This is Zach?”

“This is Tyrell. What is happening? There have been multiple explosions?” Tyrell demanded, the comm crackling loudly in the med center.

“Reports have come in from multiple pleasure centers asking for help saying they are under attack by blue-skinned males in blue uniforms, and there is more Irvi, and I found Overseer Cheng in the utility shed; he is dead,” Zach said, his excited voice followed by loud crackling.

Tyrell exchanged looks with Ronan, who swore under his breath. “Did you say dead?”

“Yes, his throat was cut, and his body was hidden by a tarp. The ground transports had also been sabotaged. Irvi and I fixed one. What do you want me to do?” Zach replied.

“Come and get us immediately. Did you tell Perrion what you found?” Tyrell demanded as Daria moved about the table and motioned for Ronan to place his cuffed wrist on the table with the laser cutter.

“Laoni tried to stop Irvi and I from seeing Perrion, but I managed to distract him long enough for Irvi to slip in his door, and it is a good thing he did. Perrion is sick, very sick. Where are you?” Zach replied as another explosion could be heard.

“The healer’s on Second Street and hurry,” Tyrell looked over at Artem, who had a printout in his hand.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can, and be careful, we are getting more reports that blue-skinned males are roaming the streets ransacking shops and trying to carry off females,” Zach replied before the comm went dead.

“Is it safe to move Lily?” Ronan asked as Daria freed him from the cuff.

“Yes, I made a copy of everything the analyzer discovered so you can give it to Arnal.” Artem held a thin plastic sheet out to Ronan as Lilly stirred on the table.

“Thank you, she will be well then?” Ronan asked, needing further reassurance even though Artem had reassured him already. Ronan hated feeling so powerless that once again Lilly had come to harm trying to help him. Once home, he would see that she never came to harm again; she would be pampered and cared for like the precious gift she was.

“Yes, in a few hours. She will need fluids to speed her recovery; the printout contains information on what mixture would be best for her, as well as the genetic profiles of your children. From the quick scan I took, they look perfect.” Artem said as Ronan took the plastic sheet from him.

There was another boom from outside, and the room shook again, followed by the sound of someone banging on the door to the clinic.

“You should come back to the Dome with us. It isn’t safe here,” Tyrell said.

“Thank you, but we can’t. We are the only medical center open to the public; others will need our help. Daria stay here while I get the door.” Artem said as more pounding came.

Tyrell’s wrist com beeped, and he looked down at it then back at Ronan. “Bundle her up, Zach will be here in moments.”

Ronan nodded as he retrieved Lilly’s blood-soaked robe and, with Daria’s help, wrapped it around her. “Tyrell, you won’t tell what you heard? If the master found out she was with child.”

“I didn’t hear anything. As for master Perrion, it sounds like he has bigger problems to worry about. When we get back to the Dome, I will need your help, though it sounds like Laoni is trying to stage a takeover.” Tyrell said as he moved to the door of the room.

“You have it. The males that attacked us were Zardo’s men, weren’t they? I recognized the uniforms.” Ronan said as he lifted Lilly off the table.

“Yes, they were, which is a whole other question; they were asked to leave and not come back, as far as I know. Hurry, Zach should be outside now, and Ronan congratulations.” Tyrell gave Ronan a lopsided smile as there was another bang on the door and Tyrell’s name was called from outside.

Ronan didn’t know how to respond. His mate was having twins; he was to be a father, something he thought would never happen; he should be delighted, and part of him was, but they were both still slaves and subject to the whims of their master. Then there was the fact that they were on this dust ball of a planet, where it would be hard for Lilly to get adequate medical care. The sooner they were rescued, the better, all that mattered now was Lilly and getting her home safely.