27
GNEISS DON’T RUN
MALLORY HAD INTENDED on going straight from the medbay to the ossuary, but she hadn’t considered the panicked people in the hall looking to flee the multiple breaches by either going to an interior room or the shuttle bay.
Mallory was always aware of being smaller than most of the other species; there were even some Gurudevs taller than her, but now she felt like a toddler at Macy’s during Christmastime. Everyone was big, and loud, and she felt lost instantly.
Without meaning to, she got lost in the crowd and ended up moving with the current. She knew she was going in the right direction, but wasn’t sure she’d even see the turn to the ossuary. At one moment she was sandwiched between two Gneiss, and she realized if they bumped into each other, they would flatten her. She tried to slide away next to some people whose bodies had more give when three Gneiss ahead of her stopped abruptly and held their arms out at their sides, efficiently halting traffic even as people slammed into each other behind them.
Cries of outrage and pain nearly rose above the noise of the alarms, but another sound was coming through. No, it was drowned out by all the other noise, but she could feel this sound. The floor vibrated as if someone were pounding on it rhythmically.
She could only see through the gaps between the Gneiss ahead of her, but she thought she recognized the colors as they rushed by. It was Stephanie, Ferdinand, and Tina. Running.
“Holy shit,” she said breathlessly. “If you hadn’t stopped them, then half of us would have been flattened.” She tried to see where they had gone, but she was moving with the tide again.
“I need to get over, please,” she said, struggling against the people around her. Everyone else had more mass and was more dexterous, and more determined, apparently, than she was. Then the world got sharper again, as if she needed to pay more attention.
She started to look around her, and then nearly choked when a hand grabbed her hood and yanked her back. The people behind her made more noises of outrage as she and her assailant moved the wrong way through the crowd. Mallory considered struggling but realized she might be better off out of the crowd, even if she was being attacked.
Devanshi, showing considerably more strength than Mallory had thought possible in her wiry arms, pulled her into a side corridor. She was covered in blue and red blood and carried a broken drone awkwardly under one arm. With all of these external properties, Devanshi didn’t even try camouflage. Waiting for them were most of the humans, along with Xan; a member of the Silence, wearing goggles and a breathing harness on their chest; and a crumpled, collapsed man in a business suit.
“Thanks, I think,” Mallory said, rubbing her neck. “What was that for, incidentally?”
Aunt Kathy was there, flinging herself on Mallory and weeping again. “I thought you were dead!” She pulled back and pointed to her wrist. “And look, my bracelet. Someone stole my bracelet while I was disoriented, or comatose, or I don’t know when!” She landed on Mallory’s shoulder again with a sob.
“ ’Cause your bracelet is our biggest concern right now,” Mallory said, gesturing to the corridor ahead, jammed with panicked aliens.
“Xan said you wanted to go to the ossuary,” Devanshi said, as if Mallory hadn’t just acquired a new parasite. “You were going the wrong way. He insisted that you’re still needed for the investigation.”
She was doing complicated movements with her hands as she spoke, and Mallory realized she was keeping the Silence member in the conversation.
“Was that Stephanie running by earlier?” Mallory asked, patting Aunt Kathy’s back in hopes she would let go. “With Ferdinand and Tina behind her?”
“Yes,” Devanshi said grimly. “I’m going to have to report this.”
“Why? Is there a law against running in the halls?”
“No, but Gneiss don’t run. It’s bad for their overall structure. Whatever’s gotten them going that fast can’t be good.” She looked down at the sorry example of a human on the floor. “And then there’s this. It needs medical attention.”
“What—who is that?” Mallory asked, bending down to look at the man.
“That is your ambassador, and technically the host of the station,” Devanshi said. “I was taking him to the medical bay. Can you finish the journey for me?”
“No, we’re trying to get the humans to safety!” Xan said.
“Where are you taking them?” Mallory asked him.
“We were going to follow you to the ossuary,” he said.
Mallory felt like pulling her hair out. “Xan, I’m going to the ossuary to check out the shuttle before it’s blown out of a breach and we lose all that evidence! Not because it’s safe! You have to take them somewhere in the station’s interior!”
Lovely Brown appeared out of the crowd and grabbed Mallory’s arm. “My grandmother is missing!”
Mallory looked from her to Xan and then back to Lovely. “Shit. When did you lose her?”
“After she talked to you, those alarms went off, and things got chaotic. I looked around the balcony for her, but I didn’t see her. I didn’t worry too much about it and figured we would find her when we left the room.”
“She could still be back there,” Mallory suggested, but winced when a sudden bang startled them. Several in the crowd screamed as the floor shook. Kathy finally released her, preferring to hold her hands over her ears.
Devanshi turned her back to them and spoke into a communicator. She waited for a response, which Mallory couldn’t hear over the racket. Devanshi turned back to them. “The medbay just had explosive decompression. Whatever and whoever was in there is gone.”
Lovely screamed, “Then she has to be somewhere else! We have to find her!”
Devanshi looked bored and dismayed. “Now where am I going to put this?” she asked, nudging Adrian.
Mallory waved her hands to get Devanshi’s attention. “Hey, we have multiple problems here. You didn’t see an old human woman on your way here, did you?”
“No, I’ve been caring for this leaking person,” Devanshi snapped. She picked Adrian up by his belt and he hung like a kitten. Kathy screamed, and Xan swore.
Adrian’s face was a bloody mess, with several puncture wounds. He had lost his left eye, and his ears and nose were in tatters.
“Fuck,” Mallory said, putting a hand to her mouth. “What happened to him? Is he alive?”
“It took an opportunity to step in and take the vacant host position,” Devanshi said.
“Did he kill Ren?” Mallory asked.
“I don’t know,” Devanshi said. “It could have gone there to kill Ren, or found Ren dead and taken the position. It was connected to the station, and Eternity didn’t like it. She tried to connect with it with thorns. Maybe she thought it was a Gneiss and could handle it.”
“Or maybe she was out of her mind,” Mallory said. “Is this what’s going to happen if you get her a new permanent host?”
“I’ve never seen this happen before, but I’ve never seen a person so opportunistic as to jump into a position without knowing anything about it. Are all humans this impulsive?” She lowered her arm so Adrian’s feet dragged the floor again.
Xan gave Mallory a look with a raised eyebrow, and she blushed and looked away from him, annoyed. “Not all of us, but it’s not unknown in humans,” Mallory admitted.
“I was able to briefly communicate on a basic level with Eternity through this,” Devanshi said, and held out the drone she had tucked under her arm, “but I didn’t get a lot of real information. There were more than this human in the Heart this morning, so it’s possible it’s not the killer. We won’t know until we can get it some care.”
The Silence member got Devanshi’s attention and began signing at her. Mallory tried to follow the quick movements but she had no frame of reference and was lost. Devanshi signed back at them.
“What are you telling them?” Mallory asked, unable to wait any longer.
“I’m telling them what all of you were so rudely talking about without including them,” Devanshi said.
“Well, that’s just unfair. We just got here, and I didn’t get the note that sign language would be on the test,” Calliope said from her spot leaning against the wall.
“All right. What are they saying?” Mallory asked.
“They want to help find the old female,” Devanshi said. “If you want it.” She stopped signing. “I should warn you that the Silence often have two or three motives for anything,” she said to Lovely. “Although their skill in manipulation might be dampened by the lack of an interpreter. The quality of their aid in finding her might have problems because of that too. It’s your call.”
“I’ll take any help offered, since some are reluctant to give it,” she said, looking at Mallory.
“I’ll help too,” Phineas said. “At least I can keep the crowds off you.”
Mallory looked at Adrian. “I can buy he would jump in as host. He doesn’t like to be told what to do. He probably saw it as the way to be the ultimate authority instead of having to do what Earth tells him. He was afraid Earth was sending an ambassador to replace him, and I think they were. Although that person’s probably dead now . . .”
“Can I leave him with you?” Devanshi asked, holding Adrian out to her again.
“No!” Mallory said. “I can’t carry him! And I have to go to the ossuary.”
“I guess he comes with me, then,” Devanshi said. “Unless he’s finally dead, and then I can just drop him.”
Adrian was clearly breathing, and his wounds still oozed blood. “No, he’s still alive, just not a lot,” Mallory said firmly. “Can you take him to another medbay?”
“I have to figure out what’s wrong with the station, or we’re all dead, including him,” Devanshi said. “I am not an ambulance.”
“I’ll go with you to the other medbay,” Phineas said. “If Mrs. Brown was injured, someone might take her there, but we need you to translate for . . . this person? What’s their name?”
“2331,” Devanshi said.
“But why are you going to the ossuary?” Devanshi asked Mallory. “It’s on the exterior wall. How do you know it’s safe?”
Mallory faced Xan expectantly.
Xan opened his mouth, then shut it. “I just do.”
“I thought so,” Devanshi said.
“Thought what?” Mallory asked, then closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “Devanshi, please send my apologies that I can’t speak directly to the Member 2331.”
Devanshi began to sign to the Silence member, who watched her intently, eyes darting back to Mallory on occasion.
“All right,” Mallory said. “Phineas, Lovely, and 2331, you go with Devanshi to look for Mrs. Brown in the other medbay. Connect with the other humans; she might be with them. Stay together. If you find Mrs. Brown, I don’t know, I assume Devanshi has a way to get word to us, I hope? I have no idea if the public comms are working.”
“I do,” Devanshi said.
“Calliope and Aunt Kathy, wait here. Xan and I will check the ossuary to make sure it’s safe.”
Kathy shook her head firmly. “An ossuary? You want us in a graveyard? I don’t think so.” She shook her head. “No, we’re going to find a safe place to hide until all this is over, or we’re going to ask an alien for a ride back to Earth. There’s got to be a shuttle heading there, right?” Her firm voice had gone high and quavery again, desperate for help.
“No,” Mallory said. “There won’t be a shuttle heading to Earth with half the people on this station trying to evacuate.”
“But you said—” Kathy began.
“I was trying to keep you calm,” Mallory said flatly. “There are no immediate plans to get humans off the station. Right now, we just need to survive.”
“I’ll check in with you when we get to the medbay,” Devanshi told Mallory. “I need someone to tell me what those Gneiss are up to. If we live through this, it could be important.”
“We’ll search the ossuary first, you check the medbay, and then we can check other places once the hallways clear.” Mallory looked at Lovely. “We’ll find her.”
Strangely, she believed herself.
MALLORY LED XAN down the hall a small distance to where she could keep an eye on Kathy and Calliope.
“We have to get them to safety; why are you stalling?” he demanded.
“No,” she said, squaring off to face him. “I have to know, right now. You know information, and I’ve almost never seen you use comms. You had a human-size spacesuit when I can’t even find a goddamn chair that’s comfortable. And I figured out what was bothering me about the spacewalk; I know for a fact the station only uses one common written language to communicate. But when I pulled up the display in my helmet, it had English words. I can’t trust you with something as dangerous as taking them to the ossuary without more information. When it’s my life, okay, sure, I’ll follow you out into the vacuum for adventure, but when their lives are at stake?” She pointed up the hall. “Nope.”
He looked at her for a long moment. Then, with a resigned look on his face, he spoke. “When I got picked up on Earth, I was cut up. The Gneiss used a translation bug on me but didn’t do a great job with the implantation, which made me bleed more.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” she asked.
“I’m getting there,” he said, sounding calm, which only agitated her more. “The Gneiss then gave me some of the Sundry healing bacteria, the staph stuff, to help out. Tina didn’t know what she was doing, and the other two had good intentions but didn’t know much more. From what I understand, the bacteria from the Sundry can also aid in establishing a symbiotic link. Between that and getting some of my blood on her, by the time we got here, Infinity and I were connected. She calls it ‘relating.’ That’s how I got English writing into her system and she had a spacesuit built for my size, and she’s kind of like her mother in that she can sort of talk to me, to my mind, I mean.”
“I figured you were controlling it with your mind, but I didn’t know it was as deep as a symbiotic relationship! This has huge implications, but hang on, her mom? Who’s that?”
“Eternity. Infinity is her daughter. She does what her mother tells her to, for the most part, but her connecting to me was one of her first acts of free will. But Infinity is parked in the disused Gneiss shuttle bay, and she says there are no breaches inside. It’s safe for all of us.”
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
He looked startled. “For what?”
“For trusting me with this. I know you don’t like me that much, but at least I know you trust me now. Let’s go get the remaining humans before something else happens to them.” She stopped, realization dawning on her. “Can Infinity talk to the station for us and tell us what’s going on, how to stop all this?”
He grimaced. “You don’t think I’ve thought of that? She’s tried. Eternity is too far gone. Another reason I wanted to take the humans to the ossuary is that Infinity is nearby. She can get us off station if things go bad.”
“Then let’s get to the ossuary.”
But when Mallory looked up the hall to wave to the remaining humans, Calliope and Kathy were gone.