“Aska?” I asked, stumbling across the few feet of grass separating us. “Aska?”
My approach caused a stir amongst the vespis gathered near him, but the queen reached me first.
“We cannot help him,” she said, drawing me close enough to see.
“But… we need him,” I said, thinking how much depended on Askavor being able to bridge the gap between the humans and the weavers.
“I am sorry,” the spider said, and the queen laid a reassuring hand on his head.
“You have no need for shame,” she said. “You have not failed us.”
I could think of only one other avenue for help.
“I will call Delight,” I said, and the queen gave me a pitying look.
“She will not hear you. She is too far away.”
“She’d better hear me!” I snapped, “since she’s in my head, even when she isn’t supposed to be!”
The queen shrugged.
“You can try.”
Well, of course I could. I searched through my implant, looking for the link that had to be there. I couldn’t find it.
“Goddamnit, Delight! Where the fuck are you?”
And she popped right into my implant, like I’d invited her… which, just this once, I actually had. I didn’t give her a chance to ask why I had called.
“Askavor is injured, and we need him.”
She didn’t ask why, just tore through the memories recorded on the implant and took what she needed—and then she didn’t bother answering. She just vanished from the implant like she’d never been.
Two minutes later, she shuddered into being beside Askavor, causing the queen to rear back in surprise, and the bodyguards to strike out instinctively. We were right in the makings of a diplomatic incident and a half, when a piercing whistle broke the air, and the vespis froze.
“You’re very fucking welcome,” Delight snapped, glaring at the wasps nearest her, as she peered into Askavor’s wound. “Doc! This one’s beyond me.”
Doc? I looked for him, and realized Delight hadn’t come alone. Scattered amongst those gathered around Askavor’s still form, were several more figures, all wearing the grey of Odyssey crewmen. One of them, however, was wearing medical white, and had an all-too-familiar cast to his features.
He nodded towards Mack, as he disentangled himself from a vespis foreclaw caught in his shirt. It hummed at him, and he patted its forelimb gently, as he moved away.
“No harm done.”
The bodyguard watched him go, and then cocked its head, its whole posture expressing puzzlement. I followed the direction of its gaze, and understood.
As much as Doc might have tried to reassure it, the line of red slowly staining the side of his tunic said he’d lied. Harm had been done. I took a step towards him, and was met with such a ferocious glare, I stopped.
“Not now, Cutter. I need to see to Askavor.”
I looked to Mack, but he just shrugged. Delight got out of Doc’s way, and signaled to one of Odyssey’s men.
“Make sure Doc has what he needs,” she said, and walked over to Mack. “I have a port team on stand-by. We’ll have him in a tank as soon as he’s done.”
“Does he need one?”
“Not yet, but I saw the size of the stim pack he discarded. He’ll be in a world of hurt when it wears off.”
“Who gave him one of those?”
Delight shrugged.
“You tell me. He’s your crewman.”
Mack looked like he wanted to say something at that, but he didn’t. He pressed his lips together in a firm, straight line, and took a long, deep breath. He was back to business, when he spoke, again.
“Can you scan the area for more?”
“Done,” and Delight blinked. “Anything else?”
“Ask the queen,” Mack suggested, and turned away, his gaze roving over the settlement, the buildings, the sky, and the ridgeline beyond.
We might not be on a battlefield, by any stretch of the imagination, but Mack looked like he was standing in the middle of a warzone, and he was making me feel uneasy.
23—Surgery on the Sugarsides
I looked around for Tens, but he was nowhere to be seen—and then I remembered he’d gone into the dropship after Rohan. Oh… good.
The world wavered, but I turned back to watch Doc. The man had his hands deep inside Askavor’s carapace, and seemed to know exactly what he was doing. I don’t know what was more unnerving: the fact Doc was working on the weaver, or the idea that, maybe, he’d done this before.
“Not now, Cutter,” Mack said, and then he froze.
And I knew he’d finally registered that I was standing up and had shifted off the mat he’d seen T’Kit dump me on. I thought about returning to it, but I didn’t move. Firstly, because there was no point; he’d be on me before I could back out of the crowd standing around Askavor; secondly, because I wasn’t going anywhere; and, thirdly, because I wouldn’t make it if I tried.
Hell, if I was lucky, Mack would reach me before I hit the ground.
“Fuck me, Cutter. What the everloving fuck do you think you’re fucking doing?” he shouted.
So much for being subtle, I thought, as he jostled two vespis bodyguards aside, and wrapped an arm across my back, just as my legs gave way.
“Nice catch,” I managed, but I was already feeling an overwhelming urge to sleep.
Delight arrived, just as Mack swung me into his arms, and carried me clear of the crowd around Askavor. She took one look at me, and glanced up at his face.
“How bad?”
“Arach bite. She’s had antivenin, but she needs stitches.”
“I’ll port you to medical on board the Sugarsides,” Delight said, and didn’t give either Mack or me time to protest.
Her command moved as fast as thought, and we were swept away, as swiftly.
“Don’t you let them keep me,” I said, as our pieces were jammed back together. My words came out louder than intended,
