Page 16 of Warrior (The Outlander Book Club… in Space! #2)

Daisy

Exhaustion lay upon me like one of those weighted blankets Gavin had been so fond of. I stood and stretched, not moving more than a step away from Ewok's bedside. The ratty chair was less than comfortable, but at least it got me off the floor. I'd have sat on a pile of sharp rocks to stay by Ewok.

The few minutes I left his side to get the other children a quick breakfast before they headed to the mines was pure torture. Each second I spent away loomed fraught with terror that someone would deliver the news Ewok passed when I wasn't there to comfort him.

Like Gavin.

My husband died alone, trapped in a car while the emergency responders tried to reach him. The guilt of not being by his side haunted me almost as much than the grief of losing him.

So, I sat by Ewok’s side and waited for Daicon to return.

Daicon.

I couldn't think of his name without feeling the pressure of his lips against mine, the stroke of his firm tongue inside my mouth, or the way fire licked along my veins as I kissed him.

I kissed him.

What on Earth has gotten into me?

I’d never had the impulse to kiss a man like that, with head-spinning need threatening to consume me. Not even with Gavin.

Yet at that moment, nothing else seemed right. It was standing there and knowing Daicon was going into danger for Ewok… for me. Kissing him felt not only desired but necessary on some level, like I wouldn't have been able to let him leave otherwise.

It was a great kiss.

If I was honest with myself, I wanted to kiss him again… I wanted to… I just wanted him.

I loved my husband… I really did. But I'd never felt a desire this deep and needy before in my life. I felt soaked with gasoline and Daicon was the match. Even with him gone, the flame remained like a glowing coal buried deep beneath the ash, just waiting for something to fan it to flame.

Surely it was simply exhaustion, worry and fear taking its toll. Just a confluence of intense emotions rearing up to make me act crazy.

Nope, that wasn’t it.

It was Daicon. There was a wildness to him, a danger he wore like an aura, but he was also loyal and sweet, and kind. I don't think I could have survived this mine if he hadn't shown up. Even if I hit him on the head with the shovel as introduction.

When Daicon returned, after Ewok healed, I would have to face whatever these feelings were… an idea both scary and exciting.

"Are you well, kida?"

George's voice gave me a start. I glanced to the other side of the bed where he stood, a large silver basin in his hands.

"I'm fine," I managed to smile. "Just stretching my back."

He nodded, setting the basin on the small bedside table. Thank God for George. He might be a child himself, but there was no doubt in my mind that Ewok would already be gone if not for George's tireless tending.

I settled back in the chair as he lifted a length of soaked cloth and began wrapping Ewok's torso and arms. I felt the little Kerzak shiver even though sitting a few inches away.

“George, why are you wrapping these cold towels around Ewok? He's shivering?

“The Kerzak practice thermoregulation.” When my eyes widened, George explained.

"They are able to regulate their own body temperature. Keeping him cold initiates a process known as vasoconstriction , which thickens and reduces blood flow to help retain heat. Ewok is bleeding internally, so slowing blood flow is desired until the warrior returns with the medi-unit.”

Well, I felt dumb. “The unit that Daicon is retrieving... are you sure it will heal Ewok?"

"Yes," George gave a jerky nod as he wrapped a cold cloth around Ewok's legs. He still wore the bandage I put on his hand… dear Lord, was it only last night?

"The medi-unit uses manipulated x-rays to repair damage to the body." George scrunched his face, his short blue nose disappearing into the surrounding skin. "Although his recovery time will be slow. If we possessed a Garoot 7tX4729E healer, I could heal Ewok in minutes."

An icy chill skittered down my spine. I’d heard that name before, moments before a pale purple cat-looking alien shoved me into a cold, dark box. I remembered a loud clicking and feeling like something ripped my body apart and restitched it—which, if one wanted to be technical, I guess it was.

“You know, I went through one of those things after my abduction.”

A flicker of shock ran across George’s pale blue face. When he raised his gaze to mine, his eyes were so dark they appeared black. “Were you injured?”

“No.” I shrugged with a snort and gestured down at myself. "Just old. My body was forty years older than this when I left Earth.”

George closed his eyes and issued a deep, slow breath.

“I am sorry, kida. The machine was not meant for such use. The great healer who developed the machine meant it only for altruistic purposes.” He’d finished covering every inch of Ewok’s body with cold cloths so that only the round teddy bear eyes of the little Kerzak remained visible.

“Many moons ago, all of the universe fought a great war. Our kind are healers, but even we had to take up arms and fight. Atois, our greatest healer, gave his son to the battle. The boy survived but with grave injuries.”

I couldn't imagine George in battle. Other than his head, which I now knew held a massive, brilliant brain, his body was small and frail. He moved fluidly, steps not making a sound as he walked around the end of the bed and settled on the thin mattress by Ewok’s feet.

“Atois could not bear to watch his son suffer with a painful handicap he would never overcome, so he created a healer that would not only repair his son’s injury but regenerate his body to a point before the injury, where all residual pain could be eliminated and forgotten.

” His thin, sloped shoulders lifted and fell.

“Sometimes, if we can get to a person quickly enough, the machine can reverse death. There are very few 7tX4729E healers. The machines take decades to build. The slavers stole one and perverted its use for their own ends.”

"That's an incredible story," I said, and meant it.

George’s head tilted, curiosity on his face. “Do you not have a similar machine on your planet to stave off illness and death?”

“No. On my planet, death is pretty final.

" Except for Jesus, but I didn't have it in me to explain the holy trinity to an alien child. It was difficult enough to explain the concept to humans most of the time. An odd feeling centered in my chest as I pondered the idea. Sure, Earth’s medical history held many stories of people returned to life after horrendous circumstances.

But all those stories had physicians, nurses, and first responders who acted with courage and determination.

Those cases relied on the hearts and prayers of people doing the saving.

To have life restored by a machine was something out of a Terminator movie, and it didn't sit well with me. Although I would admit, I didn’t hate having my twenty-something body back, or the idea it was perfectly healthy.

Maybe....

"George, can I ask you a question?"

“Of course.”

I took a deep breath, the words themselves hard to utter. "Back on Earth, I…there was something wrong with me. I was born with an issue that kept me from getting pregnant and having children. Do you think going through the machine fixed that?”

George leaned forward, his small, bandaged hand covering where I twisted my fingers nervously. “I don’t think so, Kida. The machine can repair and regenerate what is inherent in the body but cannot create something that never existed.”

I blinked at the sting of tears. His words took me back thirty years to the fertility clinic at Emory University Hospital, when I first learned I would never conceive. What was I thinking? Even if I could have children now, what good did it do me unless Daicon and I….

Nope, not going there.

“So, if you got your leg cut off, the machine can reattach it, but it can't grow a new leg?” I postulated.

George snorted and grinned, one of the few I’d seen him sport. “You do not need the machine to do something as simple as reattach a limb, kida. Any Garoot can do that with a medi-unit such as the warrior fetches. I have even done that.”

“And you said you weren’t a great healer.” I teased.

“Garoot are bred with healing knowledge in our DNA, such as how to heal basic injury and sickness. One must study and apprentice to become a great healer like Atois.” His gaze grew wistful, and it dawned on me that George favored the baby alien in the Megamind cartoon.

“I was on my way to the laboratories on Guarrdiese to begin my healer training when they took me.”

“I'm so sorry, George." It was my turn to give his hand a comforting squeeze. He deserved the chance to be all that he could be. All the children did. “I promise, when we escape from here, we’ll get you to those labs.” I had no idea how or what planet, for that matter.

Daicon would help. He would have, too. I got lost driving in downtown Atlanta, even with GPS.

George's head jerked up. At first, I thought in response to my promise. Then his dark eyes narrowed, gazing toward the common room. I started, but then my much less discernable ears caught the sound of footsteps.

“Daicon?” I jumped to my feet, taking a step.

George’s hand grasped my wrist. “Kida, I do not think….”

He didn't get the rest of the words out.

He didn't need to. The shadow darkening the doorway was as big as our warrior, but where Daicon was handsome and kind—this man was the opposite.

He smiled, the scar dissecting his cheek causing the movement to appear lopsided, more grimace than grin.

His light blue eyes darted from me to George and finally to Ewok, disappointment slacking his features.

When his gaze flicked back to George, an aggravated huff rippled across his thin lips.

“What are you doing in here, you fucking whelp? Get back to the mines.”