First Warning: Acorna's Children

Chapter 4

This is Federation Station Alpha adjunct to Kezdet. Please state your name, ship, corporate or galactic origins, registration number, and the purpose of your voyage."

"Federation outpost, this is Captain Jonas P. Becker aboard the Condor, flagship of Becker Interplanetary Recycling and Salvage Enterprises, Ltd. Registration number 333666444555333. I am transporting two Linyaari ambassadors, one of them the Lady Acorna Harakamian-Li, and their-"

"Holy holos, Captain Becker, are we glad to see you! Well, not you. It's Lady Acorna. Maganos Moonbase notified us that she would be arriving soon, and it's not quite soon enough. Lady Acorna?" the dispatcher asked, trying to look beyond Uncle Joh and onto the bridge. He was a very young man, a boy really, with dark hair, skin the color of some of the roan planet-born children of Khorii's generation, and very light eyes. No horn, of course. Like Uncle Joh, he was a human. Mother waved at the screen. "Maybe you don't remember me, Lady, but you rescued me from a mine on Kezdet a few years ago. Kmal Madari-well, Midshipman Madari, now. There are stories about you and your lifemate Aari going around all the outposts-and Captain Becker and his cat first mate and the android, too. How you all squashed those Khleevi bug monsters."

"It wasn't quite like that, Kmal. But thank you for remembering me so fondly. We are on our way to take our daughter to visit relatives at Maganos Moonbase. How can we help you? I take it there's some trouble?"

"You bet there is. The whole Solojo star system has been infested with some kind of a plague, and the Federation Health Authorities are scared stiff it's already spread to other systems and worlds in our quadrant. A healer of your caliber-and your husband's, of course-well, you folks are maybe the only hope the victims in the Solojo settlements have left. The docs are baffled-and most of the medical folk are sick or dead as well. This is a killer plague. Even hazmat teams haven't been able to figure it out. We can't evacuate anyone without exposing ourselves and other people. It's a real mess. So when Mr. Nadezda and Mr. Baird told us you were coming to Maganos, the brass stepped in. They want you to go straight to Solojo, to the settlement on Paloduro. It's the most recently stricken, so there'll be the most survivors or people you can help. We hope."

"Naturally we'll be happy to assist," Mother said, with an apologetic look in Khorii's direction. "But our daughter is with us. It's her first visit here to see her grandparents on Maganos Moonbase. We were hoping to arrive for the birth of Gill and Judit's baby."

"I understand. I-er-let me patch you through to Federation Health Headquarters."

The com screen flashed to a woman who looked so tired that when she tried to smile it was as if gravity kept the corners of her mouth down. "Commodore Crezhale here, Lady Acorna, Lord Aari. Glad you are willing to help us. We will reroute your ship immediately, as soon as one of our fuel ships can replenish your supply. Your Linyaari expertise in these matters will be a godsend to Solojo. However, I have to warn you that Captain Becker and any other non-Linyaari life-forms traveling with you, I repeat, any non-Linyaari life-forms, including androids and animals, are under strict orders to remain aboard the vessel at all times. The most rigid sterilization procedure must be used when you re-board your ship to avoid bringing contaminants aboard. Sterile procedure must also be followed on foodstuffs or other supplies. There is to be no cargo taken on your vessel. From what we've observed, this plague crosses species with the greatest of ease, and until we've figured out its transmission method, "we're not taking any chances."

"Hmm," the captain said, with a glance at Khorii, who had finished sulking and returned to the bridge to see Kezdet. "Sounds to me like this is not a good time for the ambassadors to be taking their little girl to visit her human grandparents and great aunts and uncles and cousins, is that right?"

"Affirmative."

"Well, then, maybe we ought to just head back for MOO. We can't take Khorii onto a plague planet," Uncle Joh said.

Mother stepped forward and said, "What is the status of Maganos Moonbase? Has there been any report of infection there?"

"Not as far as we know. I'm sorry to interfere with your family plans, but this is an emergency."

"Aari and I are perfectly willing to do all we can to help halt the plague, and if we are not enough, we will send for other Linyaari to bring more of our technology to help, too, but Captain Becker is correct in saying that we have our child to think of. Linyaari children are not strong enough to deal with this sort of crisis-the healing devices require adult mind control to operate at their highest efficiency. A child would die trying to cope with such a huge demand on her energy. So we must take her somewhere safe. If we can just deliver her to Maganos Moonbase first . .."

"And Khiindi, Avvi," Khorii said. "If I go, Khiindi must come with me." She wanted familiar company. Badly. She did not like the idea of being abandoned among strangers. She didn't agree with it, but she knew she had no choice in the matter. The being abandoned part was nothing new, but she barely knew most of the people they had been going to see. Other than that they were pretty, as she had seen pictures of them, she had no idea what the grandmothers would be like. They sounded very kind, since Grandsire Calum's and Grandsire Gill's wives, the Kendoro sisters, had helped save Mother from all the troubles she was always getting into as a youngling, to hear Grandsire Rafik tell it.

Khorii knew Grandsire Rafik a bit better than the other two. Since he was the nephew and heir of Great-uncle Hafiz, the founder of House Harakamian and the Moon of Opportunity, Rafik visited MOO about once every Standard year to consult with Hafiz on business and to bring Khorii presents and tell her stories.

Once he had brought her a piece of scarlet cloth embroidered with gold and little mirrors. She had put it around herself and carried it behind her in both hands like a sail when she ran but it caught on the bushes and tore one day, so after that she draped it over her sleeping mat. This delighted Khiindi, who had chased the rainbows cast by the reflections on the mirrors and kneaded the cloth full of holes.

"Yes," Elviiz said, in that annoying know-it-all way he had. "The child and her kaat must be kept safe. Although I am a Linyaari child, too, I am a Linyaari android child and thus . . ."

"Thus you will accompany your sister-friend where she goes," Maak said firmly.

"But, Father, I should stay and help you and Captain Becker and my Linyaari parents." Khorii stuck her tongue out at Elviiz where only he could see. He couldn't stick his out at her in return because he was trying to be so grown-up and was standing in front of the viewscreen where the Federation dispatcher could see him.

"You will help us all best by fulfilling your primary function and keeping Khorii safe," Maak told him. "We will have more father-and-son bonding sessions on future occasions. I will be too busy assisting Captain Becker and the first mate to provide you with proper instruction."

While they were arguing, the commodore, no doubt assuming that her wishes were their command, had signed off, and Kmal the dispatcher was back again.

"I can see we have a problem," Kmal said. As serious as his voice had been before, he seemed to be trying not to laugh now. Khorii thought maybe he thought it was funny, too, to see Elviiz put in his place. "Let me check with my superiors and get back to you. Have you spoken with Maganos Moonbase recently?"

"Not yet," the captain said. "We haven't been able to get any of Lady Acorna's dads on their private channels. Busy men, I guess."

"Yes, sir. In that case I'll make contact for you and explain the situation to them, let them know you've gone through channels and everything," Kmal said. "Over and out for now."

He soon reappeared, and said, "Okay, Lady Acorna, the Condor is cleared to orbit Maganos Moonbase and dispatch your daughter and her pet and her droid to the surface. Following that, please proceed to Paloduro with all possible speed."

When the transmission ended Khorii asked, "Where's Paloduro?"

"Here," the captain said, acting like they were still friends, as if nothing had happened."! can show you on the charts." He punched a few buttons, and a star chart appeared on the console screen. "We're about here," he told her.

"Where's Vhiliinyar?"

"Way off the chart over there somewhere near where the cats are fighting," he told her, flipping a thumb back over his shoulder. Khiindi and RK were rolling over and over in a cat pinwheel, growling and hissing at each other. If Khiindi had ever felt any gratitude to his sire for hauling him out of the death-ridden corridor of the Blanca, or if RK had ever felt any tenderness for his offspring that had prompted him to save him in the first place, both cats had apparently forgotten about it. "Now over here is Kezdet, and here is Maganos Moonbase, where you're going. And over here . . ." His hand described a wide arc until his finger stabbed on a dot far to the right of the moonbase. "This is Paloduro."

"That's a long way away," she said, studying the chart. "Where a plague is concerned, that's a good thing."

Mother and Father had been talking quietly to each other, but now they came and stood, each of them with a hand on Khorii's shoulder. "I wish now we had brought the Linyaari ship instead of riding with you, Captain," Mother said. "Had we done so, you could take Khorii back to MOO and recruit some of our people to join us."

"Too late for that now," the captain told her. "Besides, the kid doesn't want to go home after coming all this way, do you, Khorii?"

Well, yes she did, actually. She was going to be left alone again.

"You will not be alone, little one," Father said, reading her thoughts. "Remember, your human family will be there to meet you. Your mother's foster fathers love to tell stories of her adventures when she was your age. And there will be other younglings there for you to befriend."

"Think of it as early training for your own ambassadorship when you're a little older, yaazi" Mother said, giving her a hug.

In another two hours the Condor was within hailing distance of Maganos Moonbase.

Mother greeted them herself. "This is Acorna Harakamian-Li aboard the Condor, Maganos Moonbase. Please alert Calum and Gill that we will be entering your orbit in approximately four hours."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Lady Acorna," said the young man whose face appeared on the com screen. "Judit's baby tried to come early, so Calum, Mercy, and Gill all went to the hospital Kezdet-side to be with her. They didn't expect they would all be off base so long, but I'm sure they'll be returning soon. There's been talk in the last few minutes of quarantining Kezdet though."

"Is Kezdet infected, too, then?"

"Not so far and neither are we, but the Federation has proposed a ban prohibiting interstellar travel in this sector until they've been able to identify the source of the infection and any vessels that might have been exposed."

"It is unfortunate, but it makes sense to quarantine the healthy until you know where the threat is," Father said. "From all that's been said, Kezdet is much larger and has a diverse population. It would be more difficult to control a disease there."

"I still wish Calum and Gill and the Kendoros were going to be there," Mother said, as if Khorii could not take care of herself, as she had often done before.

"Khorii will probably be better off with the other children even though your fathers will not be there right away. If we cure the plague elsewhere and help contain it, then the quarantine is unnecessary and your fathers and their mates can return to the moon."

Mother cast a concerned look down at her daughter. Khorii knew she did not wish to leave her alone among strangers. "The moon is a more controlled environment. It is one big school, really, the way we set it up. Even without Cal and Gill here I will feel easier about sending Khorii to the surface alone on Maganos Moon-base than I would sending her down to Kezdet alone to look for Cal and GUI."

Elviiz spoke up. "She will not be alone, Mother. I will be with her."

Mother smiled at Elviiz. "Yes, you will. I forgot that for a moment. I know you will look after each other."

"And Khiindi, of course," Khorii said. Her cat had chosen that moment to disengage from hostilities with his sire and jump to her shoulder for a bout of purring reassurance.

"And Khiindi," Mother agreed.

Becker chuckled. "When you were her age, from what I've heard, you were already saving the universe as we know it from all sorts of stuff and scaring the pee-waddin' out of your dads in the process."

Mother smiled, though she still looked worried. "I suppose I simply do not want history to repeat itself. My parents were frightened of that when we told them we were taking this trip."

It was nice that everyone was worried about her, and Khorii almost felt warmly toward the captain again. She hated to bring up another complication, but if they were all too blind to see it, she felt she had to. "There is a world in the Solojo system? Dinero Grande? I saw it when you showed me the map, Captain. The Blanca's registration said Dinero Grande. I do not think I should go to the Moonbase. I think the people on the Blanca maybe had the plague."

"Your theory is logical, Khorii, but it is not supported by the evidence," Elviiz butted in. "The corridor where Captain Becker and the cats succumbed, as did the organic components of Father and I, still held the remnants of a toxic gas. We analyzed it. The crewmen on the bridge were shot. Judging from the input I saw, the captain for reasons known only to herself, or more likely because she lost her reason altogether, frightened the passengers so badly they tried to flee, whereupon she filled her ship's corridors with poison gas. She murdered her subordinates when they attempted mutiny in order to assist the passengers."

"Besides, youngling, we are Linyaari," Acorna said, bending down to look into her daughter's face. "With three of us aboard the Condor, no one here would remain contaminated if ever they had been, which, as Elviiz told you, they were not. Please try to stop worrying about that ship. If this plague spreads, I fear you may see far worse things to come. Your feeling for the deceased passengers and crew does you credit, but"-and Mother bent her horn to touch Khorii's, flooding her with feelings of love and security, warmth and understanding, a cradle to support her when her family was gone-"try to enjoy the school. We hope to return soon."

"I hope so, too, Avvi" she said, throwing her arms around her mother, then her father, Maak, and finally, because it was expected, Uncle Joh, who gave her a quick bear hug and let her go.

Finally, she gave RK a farewell pat, jerking Khiindi out of the way of the older cat's paw at the last minute, and climbed aboard the shuttle. Elviiz squeezed in between her and the controls programmed to land them safely on the surface and guide them into their assigned docking bay. To Khorii's disgust, Elviiz was also programmed to fly the shuttle manually in case the autopilot failed. Nobody had taught her to fly a shuttle yet. Androids get to do everything first, she thought.