Chapter Forty-Nine

 

Gavin has a little runabout in his ship, which we take down to the restaurant. I look over the information Chestla gave me on the way. I don’t understand the raw data, pero she’s given me lots of helpful notes.

We drive up, and there goes Stephen, swaying groggily away from the restaurant in between two Zantites.

I start to open the door, to chase after them, pero Brill takes my arm to stop me.

“Better to follow them, Babe. Find out where they’re holding Kayla.”

“Sí.” I move my hand back onto my lap. “Shouldn’t we call Kaliel?”

“Ga. He’s too far away. Plus he’d have half the cops on this island trailing him, which would be dangerous for Kayla – and me. I’m still supposed to be dead, remember?”

He has a point. “Then shouldn’t we at least call the Evevrons and warn them?”

“Warn them to do what?” Gavin asks from the driver’s seat. “Put on tin foil hats and hope their brains don’t explode?”

The Zantites pull Stephen into a car and turn out onto the road.

“Tere is one ting tey could do.” Tyson looks back at me from the front passenger seat. I’m sitting behind Gavin, so I can see the hesitation on his face.

“What, mijo?”

“Murry’s alone. But he wasn’t te whole group the Evevrons originally hugged. Tere was anoter consciousness forming in the worm inside Awn. Part of his plan includes reviving her. If te Evevrons let him talk to her, ten maybe… I dunno.”

“That’s a rather romantic notion for you, Tyson,” Brill says. “You sure you’re feeling OK?”

“I’m a little soft right now. I lost someone once, and having tat guy in my head brought it back up again. She would have loved te idea of love transcending death, at least once.” He grumbles, deep in his throat. “But I’m sure one of you idiots will do something stupid enough to have me back to my right self in no time.”

It’s a loco idea. If reviving a frozen Mindhugger is even possible, someone on Evevron would have to volunteer to be infected with it. And after the two parasites talked, that person wouldn’t be able to be “cured,” or Murry would just get set off again. And he’d be even more destructive, having lost the one individual his formative members had loved.

Actually, though, there had been two individuals proto-Murry-Chevros had loved. There’d been a second photograph in that locket.

Someone Murry might actually still be able to talk to.

I text Leron. What happened to Awn’s child?

If one of the council members adopted him, that niño had to have been in the pool with the rest of the council’s children. I probably saw him at the hunt breakfast. He’s less than ten years old and already carrying a legacy of so much pain. Pero, he’s Murry’s brother or son, or however the Mindworm would think of him.

If we can remind him there’s one person on Evevron he cares about, maybe he will spare all of them, for the sake of the one.

Leron texts back, That kid was always sick. He died last summer. Why?

Leaden cold sparkles through my chest. Obviously, Murry already knows that his son-brother-whatever is dead. That explains some of the anger when Murry-Tyson had talked about the child being taken. Never mind.

“They’re slowing down,” Gavin says. He pulls us off to the side of the road.

The Zantites turn in at a parking lot across the street. It’s an aquarium.

“When Mertex said somewhere deep, did he mean underwater?” I look over at Tyson.

Pero, Tyson’s shoulders have gone rigid, and his neck’s arched back. He’s staring straight up at the ceiling. Now that can’t be bueno.

“Gavin,” I start.

“Way ahead of you.” Gavin puts a hand on Tyson’s arm. The Galactacop doesn’t stir. Gavin takes a key fob with a large jraghite at the center out of his pocket and places it on the back of Tyson’s hand. The jraghite glows based on body temperature, and on Tyson, it starts to fade, then flares. Then it fades again. Which means Tyson’s temperature regulation is all over the place. “But if I bring him to a hospital, they’re bound to ask questions about the thing in his head. And there goes your big secret.”

I pull out my cell phone. “I know a brain surgeon. She was a friend of Mertex’s. I’ll have her meet you there.”

Gavin nods. “You two be careful in there.” He points at me. “Especially you. I am not listening to Brill whine all the way to whatever backwoods star he winds up hiding out on because he’s grieving.”

As we head towards the aquarium, I ask Brill, “Did Gavin just express concern for me?”

“You’d better get used to it.” Brill squeezes my hand. His eyes have gone a deep purple-gray. “Do you think a Myska molt could be brought on by a neurological imbalance? Like the parasite didn’t agree with him even before we killed it?”

“Maybe.”

My handheld rings. It’s Chestla, standing with both Ekrin and Leron. Chestla looks groggy. “You’re alive! Leron thought he saw a Myska at the edge of your holofield before you hung up. But then you texted, and he was convinced someone else had your phone.”

“You guys are the ones in danger.” I give her a short recap – leaving out Gavin’s proposal to fry Murry’s hosts – and on impulse, I throw in Tyson’s theory about the other mindworm. “Pero, that’s loco, right? Who would let themselves be infected just so two parasites could talk?”

“It is feasible, though.” Leron pulls a handheld out of his pocket and starts inputting something. “The Mindhuggers can survive indefinitely when frozen. That’s how they are kept in the dormant state before injection – they contract down to a single pearl.”

“If it survived the death of the host long enough to reach cryostasis,” Chestla says, “then you should be able to re-inject it.”

Leron’s cheeks go red, and he studies his device. “I’ve seen the reports. Those five went into the cryostasis pods alive. And conscious. Their brain tissue has been sampled for study, but only after the process was complete.”

Chestla turns to stare at him, the horror in her eyes reflecting what’s chilling my own heart. I can’t imagine what it must have been like, to be put into a plastiglass coffin and have them pump cell stabilizers into you for hours, before being quick-frozen. The claustraziety. The knowledge that this punishment far outweighs the original crime. Last thoughts about a child being left behind.

How long had Murry stayed inside their minds?

The wave of sympathy for all he’s been through almost caves me in.

“What?” Ekrin asks. She looks confused.

Brill rubs at his face, where the damaged flesh used to be. “At least I was unconscious when Mertex tried to freeze me.”

“It was a mistake to fix a mistake,” Leron says. “I don’t want to add another one to the pile. Can you imagine what trying to hunt these parasites down one by one and eliminate them will be like? How many hosts will die in the process? And if they manage to find somewhere with a big enough lab to start to seriously multiply, the problem becomes impossible to stop.”

Chestla translates to Ekrin, who replies, when translated back, “This is why the Earthlings lose in every version I have seen of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It is an unwinnable proposition.”

Then Chestla speaks for herself. “I’d like to talk to Murry, if he’s willing. I want to apologize on behalf of my people. I have failed you several times. I only hope that, if I fail you again, Murry’s vengeance brings my shame to a quick and painless end.”

“You’re not a failure!” I take a deep breath. “I will try to let him know.”

Pero, how am I supposed to do that?

It’s hard to hang up and leave her horror-heavy. Pero, I have no choice.