Plague of Memory Read Online Free PDF Page B

ship. Iisleg custom would have placed Xonea as the ranking male, but we were not on Akkabarr. The protocol officer's briefing had not covered what to do when caught between two men issuing conflicting orders, or to whom I owed obedience under such unusual circumstances.
    Someone would simply have to tell me which order to obey.
    Reever noticed my expression and turned to Xonea. "She does not understand. I will speak for her here. Go back to Medical, Jam."
    "You may not speak for her, Linguist. She is yet a member of the Ruling Council, and as such outranks both of us." The captain eyed me. "You will stay here, Cherijo."
    This Ruling Council business was something else new to me; no one had mentioned it. Why would anyone elect a physician to rule them? Why had Cherijo not written about any of this in her journals? I did not wish to leave now, but I did not want to defy Reever.
    "I have an objection." Salo, the head of the communications department, stood up. A stem-looking Jorenian with many battle scars, he commanded instant attention. His daughter often came to visit Marel and had proved to be a cheerful, polite child.
    "One cannot follow two guides, or walk two paths." He gave me a bleak smile. "Jarn, wish you to stay or go?"
    I felt a small twinge of pleasure at being addressed by my true name by one of the crew. "Am I permitted to answer that?" I asked, keeping my voice carefully neutral. Tension made the air thick; I did not wish to be the cause of a fight between these men.
    My husband came to me and rested his hands on my shoulders. "What will be said here will be confusing to you. Without knowledge of what has happened in the past, you cannot make this decision. You can trust me to decide this for you."
    Could trust, or had to trust? I did not know, but his logic seemed reasonable. If only I trusted him.
    "I do not wish to make uninformed decisions." I glanced at Xonea. "Is it permitted for me to stay so that I may know what is decided for me?"
    One side of the captain's mouth curled. "You can have no objection to that, Reever."
    My husband released me. "As long as it is understood that I serve as my wife's proxy." When Xonea nodded, he gave me a long, piercing look before he returned to his seat.
    I sat down and released the breath I had been holding. I had traversed ice fields pocked with unexploded ordnance with less worry.
    Naln Torin, the chief of engineering, occupied the seat next to mine. Another blue-skinned giant of a female, she had a gentle manner and had come to Medical each day since the accident in her section to visit Knofki and the others who had been injured.
    She bent her head so she could speak softly to me. "Need you explanation of anything said here, Healer, you have but to ask me."
    "I thank you." I picked up a datapad to take notes, and to give my hands something more to do than clench with nerves.
    "Very well, let us examine what details we have," Xonea said, removing the relay transcript from the screens and replacing it with a star chart. "Here you see the Faction homeworld of Vtaga, where the unidentified plague has emerged. We have no live or recorded transmissions from the planet—the Hsktskt have never permitted such—but TssVar claims this disease is killing everyone who contracts it."
    "The plague itself is not lethal," Reever countered. "He stated that in his relay."
    "True, but the symptoms induced by the contagion are driving the infected to extreme violence. More than two-thirds of the victims have committed suicide." Xonea paused to reference another file. "The medical data provided show victims suffer from progressive psychotic delusions and brain dysfunction. TssVar assures us that these symptoms are not being experienced by the non-Hsktskt portion of their population—"
    "Their slaves," Reever said. "No humanoid is permitted to set foot on Vtaga unless they are in a collar and chains."
    "As you say, Duncan." Xonea displayed current world population figures for the Hsktskt