“Humans breed like an infection,” Lara snapped. “There is more than enough healthy live stock and millions that survive on the medical care already available. It’s perfectly logical the Creator saw improvement of Human medicinal equipment as superfluous to the primary objective, you asshole.”
“Enough,” Igor barked. “I will finish what you start. Bones will be broken.” Natalya backed him up from the doorway with a low hiss. Igor focused on keeping Kali’s side blotted, but he did glance up to make sure Lara and Max had stopped bickering. When his eyes returned to his charge, he noticed the absolute stillness of her chest. He touched Kali’s neck. “No pulse!”
The tinkling alarm became a siren. The crystal room flashed with blue lights at the corners.
“Resuscitate,” Kenshin ordered, snatching the vial of adrenaline and empty syringe from Lara. “Get over there,” he told her.
Sinking the needle into the gummy top he pulled the plunger.
Lara stormed away from the disinfection unit and assumed her position at the side of the operating table. “The adrenaline?”
Kenshin tossed the packed syringe across the room.
She snatched it out of the air, twirling it neatly in her fingers until it was needle up. She squirted liquid out the bevelled top to safeguard against a fatal air bubble. Lara went to inject the crease of Kali’s arm then hesitated. “Administration?”
“Intracardiac,” Kenshin answered. “Count three ribs to the forth intercostal space and aim up. Omicron, do you have the defibrillator? Her heart’s failing and if we lose shockable rhythm there’s no bringing her back.”
Blue tore up the place, banging and crashing as he searched for the device that would save Kali’s life. “Knowledge of where it should be isn’t there. Don’t know where to look. It looks like a solid bronze tube.” He dragged out a large tray, rifled through its contents then tossed it behind him. “I’ll find it.”
Christabella sobbed as she dashed around on the opposite side of the room, searching for the defibrillator.
“Am I doing this right?” Lara didn’t wait for Kenshin to answer before stabbing Kali’s upper torso. The spinal needle appeared on the hologram as a thick black line, slicing through muscle tissue to reach Kali’s heart.
Sanitized, Kenshin made his way over to the table. He took deep breaths and centred himself, blocking the madness surrounding him. “Yes,” he reassured. “See, you’ve pierced the ventricular chamber.”
Lara thumbed the plunger.
Kenshin donned latex gloves and assessed the hologram. “The BioScan shows her spleen has ruptured here.” His finger pointed to a dark line in the sack-like organ above her stomach on the transparent image. “Blood is pouring into her chest cavity. I’ll have to take it out.”
“We knew that,” Lara panted. Chunks of hair had fallen out of her hasty knot. Dark pink tendrils stuck on her face and neck. “It’s a non essential organ, or am I missing something? Earlier it felt like her heart was going to punch through her chest and now nothing.”
Patting his chest over his own heart, Kenshin’s inner belief they fought a losing battle was reflected in his eyes.
He muttered a list of medical terms under his breath.
Lara and Igor grimaced.
“What?” Feeling useless, Max had his hands locked behind his head. He knew when to get involved, and he knew when to stay out of the way, but he was panicked by the Hybrids expressions. “I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“The cut across her torso bled too much,” Lara was breathless as her hands pumped Kali’s chest. “Her internal injury is haemorrhaging too. Think of her as a balloon with too many holes. There’s not enough blood in her veins to keep pressure.”
“Her body has been under extreme and consistent duress and that caused her to go into shock,” Kenshin added. “Her heart beat too fast, demanding oxygen, but because it worked so hard it lost efficiency then stalled. Everything has shifted out of sync, the balance of her system compromised.”
“So she needs a transfusion.” Max didn’t understand why they were talking about it rather than doing it. “Give it to her. Give her the blood she needs so you can fix her.”
“She doesn’t have a blood type.” Kenshin shook his head listlessly. “It was stripped away by the Creator.”
Max blinked. “If she has no blood type her body will accept anything, right?”
“I’m afraid I do not have the answer. Even we Hybrids have a blood type, rare, but classifiable.”
“Take mine.” Max stumbled forward to offer his arm. “Whatever you need take.”
“It won’t work,” Creighton mumbled. “What if you have contagions in your blood?”
“I’m not sick,” he assured. “And Kal’s been inoculated so….” With a look at Creighton’s devastated face, Max dragged both hands through his hair. “She told me she’d been inoculated.”
“We told her to lie,” Creighton whispered. “Delphians don’t react well to the shot.”
“She’s a pureblood?”
“We didn’t think so, but we wouldn’t take the risk. Not with Kali.”
Kenshin blinked rapidly. Another problem. No solutions. “Creighton is right. She won’t be able to deal with hostile bacteria with her immune system so weak regardless of how much antibiotics we pump into her bloodstream.”
“Then we take her back,” Max said shakily. “The Novae are smarter than us. They’ll know how to save her.”
“Save her?” Creighton said bleakly then sagged; not having to say aloud the reason she was like this was because of them.
The vibe of the room nosedived.
Chills of despair cut past Lara’s mental defensives and sank into her bones. She took the time to look up and take in the room. Kenshin showed signs of buckling under the pressure. His breathing was laboured, his face a shade too pale, but he was fighting it. Creighton appeared nanoseconds away from complete psychological breakdown, and the verity Christabella wasn’t babbling hysterically in a corner was as near of a miracle as Lara ever thought to see.
Blue’s back stiffened. There was doubt he’d heard the conversation because his aura wobbled dangerously. The instruments strewn around the medical bay rattled as his panic seeped into his telekinetic abilities.
The trays shook.
The lights flickered, and the walls of the room groaned.
Lara wasn’t the only one to notice the psychic residue and its effect. Igor tensed and shot his Omicron a nervous look. The humans shivered, but were otherwise unaware of the danger they would face if Blue lost control of the energy gathering inside him. It could disturb the spaceship’s flight capabilities, and they would drop from the sky. Too intense a psychic explosion could knock them all unconscious, and Kali would die before any of them came around. If too much residue leaked from Blue’s mental barriers, and broke through the defensive shields it would act as a spotlight and allow the Novae to pin point their location.
“Cosmic,” Lara breathed, knowing if someone didn’t keep it together everyone would freak.
She was the oldest Hybrid present, and built to function in situations like these. Weapons and explosive devices were her primary concern, but she also absorbed knowledge of military logistics. Kenshin’s knowledge had to be delivered to Kali, so she could survive. She had to fix any disruptions to the girl getting the medical help she needed and supervise the delivery of that care. Lara could think of nothing more disruptive than an out of control Blue. She had to facilitate success. Right now, Kali living equalled victory. Failure was an option she didn’t want to contemplate.
Lara wanted to live to see tomorrow. “What else can we try?” she prompted.
Kenshin struggled to answer. His stomach roiled, and his mind was a jumble of information he desperately tried to streamline into a logical flow. He was tearing into pieces between fear for his friend, and the terror of making the wrong choice that would aid in killing her. He was the Hybrid built to absorb medical knowledge, and
now it was needed to save a life.
The pressure was immense, and the chance of failure the most frightening thing he’d experienced.
“Ken,” Lara urged. She held his gaze, lending him her strength. “There’s no time for doubt. You have the knowledge. Use it.”
He opened his mouth to speak, nothing came out. Kenshin’s Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed thickly, and on one breathe he said, “Blood substitute. Blood type doesn’t matter that way, and they are free of contagion.”
Lara exhaled shakily.
If Kenshin choked, they were finished, but if he kept himself focused they had a chance.
Signalling to Max with two fingers, Kenshin led him to the refrigeration unit. Cylindrical tubes hung in suspended animation. He pointed to a cylinder with a luminescent liquid. “That one. Grab the transfusion gun as well.”
Items in hand, Max rushed back to the table and slotted the cylinder into the gun chamber. It loaded with a tinny click and made a soft sound of decompression as the air was forced out. “Now what?”
“Inject the crease of her elbow, see the vein there?” Kenshin pointed to Kali’s arm. “Do not touch her skin, you’re not decontaminated. Don’t worry about the gun needle it’s sterilised.”
Max delivered the shot and watched the hoary liquid drain. “What is this stuff?”
The cuts and patchy bruises on Kali’s face and body began to glisten with a silvery sheen.
“Bio-engineered blood plasma.” Kenshin redid the BioScan and reviewed Kali’s vitals. His eyes squinted at the innermost corners as he interpreted the results. “It’s crammed with oxygenated erythrocytes, leukocytes, platelets, glucose, epinephrine, and albumin. Its equivalent is a transfusion of three litres of super charged blood.”
Out of his depth, Max’s lips pressed into a thin line as he held back his anger, anger bred from helplessness.
“There wasn’t enough blood in her body causing her heart to race then fail. The red blood cells in the substitute are overloaded with oxygen.” Lara explained. “They’re saturating her deprived body buying us more time. The white blood cells will fight infection, and the platelets will clot the wound until Ken can get around to repairing it. We’ll shock her with the defibrillator and get her heart beating at a regular pace. The adrenaline will have dilated her air passages, so she’ll be able to function without us breathing for her.”
Max nodded frantically. “She has enough blood now?”
“Maybe,” Kenshin replied, “The albumin will counteract her low blood pressure. The rest is down to fate.”
“Maybe? Fate?” Max held up the empty syringe. “We fixed the problem.”
Igor fitted his mouth over Kali’s. He held her nose and breathed in such a way her chest rose.
Lara pushed the air out in a series of short jerks. “The substitute should fix the problem, but system has to accept it.”
“The odds are not favourable,” Kenshin said. “Most patients’ bodies reject it outright. If her body assimilates the compound, Lara and Igor’s resuscitation attempt will no longer be in vain.”
The hologram tinkled and Kali’s heart beat erratically.
“She’s back,” Lara shouted.
“Got it,” Christabella screamed. She rushed over with a long tube the colour of polished bronze. As she held onto it, the metal became malleable, contouring and curving into a hemispherical shape with flat ends. The centre of the machine glowed, and the oval pads emitted a bright blue light. Bolts of electric charge crackled between them. “How does it work?” Christabella pushed it under Kenshin’s nose.
“Get that away from me.” Kenshin kept his hands up high. “It’s no longer sterile. I need to be ready to operate as soon as Kali stabilises.”
Max punched the wall. Medical instruments clattered. “Get your head out of your ass. She’s going to die.”
“Oh my stars,” Christabella screeched.
“Calm!” Lara emphasized her words with a firm blast of mental power to force submission. The frantic energy in the room dropped from crazed to edgy. “We can’t keep this up much longer. We’re nearing five minutes of manual support and her heartbeat remains irregular. Max, unless you have something helpful to contribute shut up and stop throwing your weight around. Bella, pull it together, and stop screeching in my ear. Omicron, swallow the guilt trip you’re choking on, and get over here. If you don’t, I will declare you unfit and assume command.”
Blue stormed over and with a burst of power snatched the suspected Novae defibrillator from Christabella’s white-knuckled grip. The device slapped into his waiting palm. He swiped his fingers over its glowing panel. It emitted a high-pitched warble, the blue light turning white.
The wildness in his eyes settled. “This is it. Kenshin?”
“I’ve analyzed the BioScan results and the blood substitute is working.” Kenshin exhaled in relief. “I can repair the damage.”
“Her pulse is weakening,” Igor warned.
Blue stepped forward. “Move.”
Igor and Lara lifted their hands clear from Kali’s body. Blue was about to touch the panels to her chest when at the last nanosecond, he noticed Creighton held her. “Get him off.”
Face dark with concern, Igor breathed air into Kali’s lungs. Lara resumed forceful chest compressions.
Beyond hysterical, Christabella grabbed Creighton’s arm and yanked roughly. “Let go you crazy old man.”
“Blue, we’re out of time,” Lara rushed. “You have to do it now.”
Snarling, Blue shoved Creighton, adding a thrust of telekinesis to the push.
Creighton was launched across the room. He crashed into the wall of shelves sending glittering shards of crystal skittering across the floor. Lurching onto his feet, he charged clumsily for the table.
Max intercepted.
They grappled until Max skilfully subdued Kali’s distraught father into a submission hold.
Haggard face contorted with pain, Creighton made another futile effort to escape. “They’ve taken everything from me,” he mumbled. He stared at the broken body of his daughter, the blood pooled on the floor turning from red to silver. His eyes flicked over the aliens moving around her.
Creighton fell to his knees.
His own aura one of defeat, Max loosened the lock he had on the older man’s body and eased to the floor with him.
“All clear and we’re on our way.” Zeke’s voice crackled over the ship-wide ComLink, filling the room with his relieved voice. Ominous beeps from the control bridge were heard in the background. “Valiant has full control over flight systems. Push is co-pilot. How’s Kali doing?”
Her golden skin was bleached of warmth. Red lips were tinged purple. The dark bruises on her body were highlighted starkly against her ashen skin. Silver liquid dribbled from the ragged edges of her wounds.
Blue hovered the metal pads over Kali’s skin before his face-hardened with determination.
He pressed down.
The sound of discharge was hideous.
The lines of Kali’s wilted body contracted stiffly. The thump of her rigid torso on the hard crystal slab was disturbing. The moment Blue pulled the machine from her skin everyone looked to the hologram projected in the air.
No rhythm.
Blue clutched the machine until his fingers went numb. “Charging,” he said flatly, the word an order to continue the effort. The alien defibrillator beeped. Blue shocked Kali again.
The sound of expulsion was louder, the convulsion of her body stronger.
All eyes froze on the hologram.
Nothing.
The world collapsed around Blue’s as his heart squeezed. His palms slicked with sweat, and his breath came in ragged gulps. He screamed his agony on a mental frequency that made the Hybrids flinch.
“Again,” Blue said.
“No.” Igor moved away shaking his head. “No more.”
The room was excruciatingly quiet except for the machine’s tinkling as it charged.
“Omicron,” Kenshin murmured, his voice hitching. “It’s been too long. The damage to her brain–”
“If you won’t help back off.”
Pained, Kenshin placed a hand to his heart, bowed, and stepped away from the table.
Blue scrubbed an arm over his face to get rid of the tears he felt rolling down his face. “Lara, you and Igor breathed for her properly?”
“We did.”
“Another minute before brain death then.”
Lara studied him. “She has no pulse.”
Ignoring her, Blue blew air into Kali’s body himself then did the chest compressions. The charging defibrillator was tucked under his arm. “She’ll wake.”
“Is everything okay in there?” Zeke repeated over the ComLink. “Can you hear me?”
Blue adjusted the defibrillator settings and placed the pads on Kali’s skin.
“Stop.” Lara grabbed his hand and pulled the machine back. “Her heart isn’t beating. There’s nothing there for you to shock. She’s gone, Blue.”
The metal rod clattered on the floor. Releasing his hold on the webbing he and Lara spun to keep them cloaked, Blue sent his mind deep into Kali’s, seeking the sparks of life he hoped kindled inside. His lips hovered a hairsbreadth from hers. “Breathe.” He grabbed her shoulders and shook. “Wake up.”
The hologram winked out.
Kali died.
28.
Kali’s head rolled to the side lifelessly. Blue gripped her shoulders, staring at the side of her face. His Kali didn’t feel gone, wouldn’t have left him like that.
What he’d felt when he’d delved into her mind was … strange.
His feelings for Kali before all of this were unquestionable and intense, yet there he stood, detached and unable to accept she was dead. Irrational as it was, he didn’t care the body he clung to held no life. That confused him with its illogicalness and his face twisted in reflection of his inner turmoil.
Howl suddenly jumped and danced on the spot, barking excitedly.
Natalya hissed, pointed ears flat to her head. Her dark eyes darted around suspiciously. They didn’t fix on anything in particular, just wheeled around as if what she sought was everywhere.