Ruxbane clapped slowly, smiling as the woman turned to face him. “Very impressive. Who is this exquisite woman?”
The king tensed. With what appeared to be great effort, he growled, “Where are your manners, my daughter? Introduce yourself to our guests.”
Iselglith reeled. Daughter. He couldn’t fathom what kind of father would make his child standoff against five well-armed men.
The woman rolled her eyes and approached. “Shy Akar,” she said, extending the hand that wasn’t holding the pole staff at her side.
Ruxbane took her hand. “Ruxbane. Watching you fight was a pleasure, princess.”
Iselglith hoped he didn’t have to greet her. One word from her father and she’d surely snap his frail, Argel neck. He might not die, but he’d experience the pain.
“Do I get an introduction, Father?” asked the man beside the throne. “Who are these men?”
“I think they’ve waited long enough to see me, Locke. I won’t waste more of their time.”
The man — Locke — backed down. He gave a curt nod.
“Take your sister and go,” the king ordered, and the man plodded down the steps and left with Shy through the door.
Iselglith frowned. Ruxbane never shifted out of his human shape, so the king must have always met him like this. If his children didn’t know who Ruxbane was, had the king not told them what he’d done? What he’d given to the Rokkir? Iselglith wondered what Ruxbane had promised in return for all the people the king had sold.
Ruxbane stepped to the edge of the sand ring. “Your daughter would make an excellent addition to my forces.”
“That’s not going to happen,” the king said, his grip tightening on the arms of his throne. “What are you here for? I’ve given you what you wanted. My men. My technology. Word has it your invasion began hours ago.”
“The word is right.”
“Then what do you want?”
Iselglith wanted to die when Ruxbane beckoned to him.
“This is one of my top researchers,” Ruxbane said. “I’d like to take a look at the prospect you mentioned.”
“The other Rokkir you left here isn’t enough?” the king asked.
“Not today, I’m afraid.”
“So be it.”
The king stood. He marched down the steps, his hands balled into fists and his head held high like a proper dignified royal. But his far-off stare and drooping frown betrayed him for a tired old man, and Iselglith found the courage to follow him without trepidation through a labyrinth of caves built deep underground.
Ruxbane followed, too, and raiders along the way stood less at attention and more in fear of their king as the three of them walked by. They travelled deeper into the base, under the sand and earth of Sinos until they hit flat ground in a long, barely lit hallway. Iselglith peered through doors left ajar and grew sick at the blood-spattered tables and strange equipment behind them. Science, they titled their brutality.
“Here’s the room,” the king said.
Iselglith was relieved their trip through the base was over. He stepped inside the room ahead of Ruxbane and glanced at the unconscious human man strapped to the operating table. Various needles and tubes penetrated him, connected to half a dozen devices Iselglith had never seen before. He ran his hand over a blinking machine. It was difficult to discern what it did, or what machine of his own kind would meet the same function. In truth, he doubted anything of the Rokkir’s could successfully work on the Igador species — the humans, Varg, Argels, Cyborn and the like. That’s why this project started on Sinos and not Aloma.
“Thank you,” Ruxbane said to the king. “We’ll find our own way out. Iselglith, this is our kin. She’s the scientist we’ve placed in charge of the project here.”
It was good to shake hands with one of his kind, but they talked little as he started to investigate the human. The man was tall with copper skin. Angular, narrow eyes. Dark hair. A clean cut scar through the left eyebrow. Surgical markings covered his right arm.
Iselglith worked nervously, his pace slow in part because of the subject’s strange physiology, but also because his leader paced about the room. Ruxbane watched every motion, cocked his head at every test that ran on the computer screen, and frowned whenever the human twitched. He even asked for a blood sample at one point, and pocketed the vial.
An hour of work passed. The liquid dark aether sample Ruxbane brought from the homeworld slid around its cylindrical container like purple-black sludge. Iselglith ran a series of tests on the stuff, and another hour later he couldn’t think of any other tests to run. This was the most imperfect work he’d ever completed. He hung his head.
“How does he look?” Ruxbane asked.
Iselglith sighed. “It’s hard to say, sir. He appears to be physically fit. High muscle mass, low body fat, two out of the ten favorable genetic markers — the ones we can detect in humans at least. But he has no genetic disposition to wield aether.”
“That is the point, Iselglith.”
“Oh, y-yes sir.” His mouth ran dry, and he found it impossible to swallow. “I know that. I mean, I understand that. It’s just a, hm, a mark against him, sir. Against his sustainability when exposed to the dark aether.”
“Disregarding that fact, would he be a suitable candidate for transfusion?”
Iselglith nodded. “He’d pass the diagnostic. Barely.”
Ruxbane shook hands with their kinsman scientist while Iselglith cleaned up as best he could. The human laid still, unharmed by the series of tests. It wouldn’t be that way for long. How painful was his future about to become, now that Iselglith had given him a clean bill of health — so to speak?
A dark aether disc was concealed in the lab, and so Ruxbane opened a portal and brought Iselglith back to the Modnik councilmember’s ship in little time.
“Thank you, Iselglith,” Ruxbane said.
“Absolutely, sir. As I mentioned, the subject back there — he would barely pass the diagnostic. A-and that was a best guess. I’ve never worked with humans.”
“A best guess is sufficient. How far out are we?”
Iselglith moved to the cockpit and watched the readings. “Thirty minutes from Elsha, sir”
“Good. The other councilmembers will already be there.” He opened a portal once again. “Good luck.”
“Sir?”
Ruxbane waited with an unreadable expression. Iselglith mulled over the words to say, the questions to ask. With everything started, so many things were on the line. All Rokkir knew from the beginning that moving forward with Ruxbane’s plan meant never being able to return to the way things were.
“What if this all goes wrong?” Iselglith asked.
Ruxbane opened his mouth, but his eyes pinched shut, and he hunched over. He grunted. Iselglith’s eyes widened. He stood there, not sure what to do. Ruxbane groaned, holding himself against the wall to stand straight. His eyes were half shut and he reached up to squeeze his temples between his lanky fingers. He stood holding the portal open and breathing heavily for what felt to Iselglith like hours.
Ruxbane grimaced. “It won’t go wrong.”
“Okay, sir. Are you—?”
“I’m fine, Iselglith. We’ll all be fine. Just do your job.”
“Yes, sir,” Iselglith said, and watched his idol go.
Chapter 4
Tayel tightened her harness while the automated voice reminded everyone to “please make your way to the harness room nearest your living area. Follow all instructions given to you by flight personnel at all times. Approaching final destination.”
Attendants sorted the line of people ticking through the door. Tayel closed her eyes. It had been a week since the shuttle departed from Delta — a week voyaging through outer space. She’d always wanted to see space, but looking through a viewport now just left her empty and alone.