All eyes turned to Kell, waiting for confirmation. “I wouldn’t be able to say for certain,” he hedged, not wanting to reveal that he had access to Adrian’s blood. Tassie’s warnings made him reticent to share the information he knew he wasn’t allowed to have. “I would like to assume so, but there’s no way of knowing if it’s still in its original form after years of gru’ul experimentation. We still don’t know what happened to him.”
“Since Adrian remains an unknown factor, we should focus on what we have access to,” Maraz said. “Try to convince Stanley to give us more samples – urine, hair, saliva; I don’t care. Run a proper check-up on him and assess his health. If he dies, that’s one less avenue to learn the facility’s secrets.”
“If he dies, it’s one less problem for us to handle,” Cirrus pointed out. Orryn looked at her in disgust for such a comment, causing her to shrug. “We’re stretched thin already. I don’t wish the man dead, but do we have the resources to spare right now to save him if his illness is time-sensitive? The only ones that can work on this are the doctor,” she jerked her head towards Kell, “and Maraz, who’s already focusing on proving Adrian’s ridiculous claims of green plants. There’s only so much we can do.”
“And that includes saving the life of an innocent man, regardless of his connections to the facility,” Orryn said hotly. “We’re the ones who freed him from his stasis. We have the responsibility to ensure his safety.”
“And we will,” Cirrus said placatingly. “From the sound of it, the only thing we’ll be providing is palliative care. Ensuring that the man’s final moments are comfortable and peaceful after all he’s been through is something we can accomplish easily enough.”
“Have you no confidence in our doctor?” Orryn was torn. While the Tribunal had promised they wouldn’t press further for more samples, this was to save someone’s life. If their medical specialist couldn’t help find a cure, there was little way of keeping Stanley alive. Further study on his condition was of utmost importance.
Whether the patient cooperated with them was an entirely different story.
“We only have two people able to work on this! Further studying him is an idea I stand behind, but I’m skeptical we’ll be able to accomplish anything in time. We don’t even know how long he has!”
“Enough,” Kaius called before focusing on Kell. “Doctor, have you anything else to add?”
“Not at this point in time. I need more time to study the phenomenon.”
“In that case, we give you leave to continue your research. Discuss with Stanley what samples you’ll need to carry out your work. Bring us any demands for an exchange for them he makes.”
“Understood, most Honourable Elders,” Kell bowed, the figures around the table winking out of existence. He breathed out a sigh of relief, his heart still pounding from facing such important individuals.
Taking a moment to collect himself, he reached over to the table and used his data slate to signal to Tassie that he was done with the meeting. He got up and left the room, waiting outside until Tassie arrived from the bridge.
“How’d it go?” she asked once she met up with him.
“It could’ve gone better. I don’t have enough to present to them yet,” Kell said with a grimace. “I’m not even sure how much I can tell you about it.”
Tassie placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not easy, keeping the really big things from the rest but we have our orders.”
Kell hung his head glumly. “That doesn’t make it any easier. I’ve been ordered to transmit some of my findings, and they aren’t good news.”
She jerked her down the hall and together the pair started to make their way off the ship to return back to the house. “Be careful with what you divulge. Some things are best left unshared.”
The loud noises coming from downstairs woke Reya from her slumber. It had been a fitful night and it felt like she was waking up right after having fallen asleep. She blinked, opening her itching eyes in the room that was flooded with light. She rubbed them, trying in vain to rid herself of the sensation. No wonder I can’t sleep, she thought as she glared towards the window. These curtains really suck.
She didn’t remember them always blocking so little light, chalking it up to her not noticing through her exhaustion when she’d first arrived at the safehouse. While she was sleeping better now, some nights were still rough when the dreams became too much.
She snuggled back into Adrian’s arms, opting to stay put for the moment. Her godsend was always there for her when she had her nightmares, calming her without fail every time. The alien rhythm of his heart lulled her back into a light sleep, but the persistent discussions the others downstairs were having worked to stop her from slipping into oblivion.
When Kell’s voice joined the veritable cacophony, she was forced to admit that she wouldn’t be falling back asleep anytime so. Her quiet grumbling was enough to wake Adrian. “I’m sorry, did I wake you?” she asked.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
He took a moment before answering, relishing in the feeling of waking up with the most important person in his life safely in his arms. “You did, but that’s alright.” When he noticed her crestfallen expression, he quickly added, “I’m pretty sure we should be getting up anyways. We can’t always sleep in until lunch.”
“Bummer,” Reya pouted. She tilted her head up and gave him a kiss that promised more to come the next time they were alone. “I quite like our time in bed together.” Her mischievous smirk had Adrian regretting proposing they get up when she separated from him. She leaned back down and gave him a light peck.
The pair reluctantly left the warmth of their covers and each other and made their way downstairs to join the others. They came down to the rare sight of the entire team gathered around the table beginning their lunch, including Stanley.
“Do you guys have to be so loud?” Reya complained as she sat down at the table. She and Adrian were the only ones dressed in pajamas, but nobody seemed to mind. “You woke us up.” Adrian dutifully went to the counter to prepare a plate for the both of them.
Tassie shared a glance with the others, noting the circles beneath Reya’s eyes. “We were being rather quiet.” The rest of the table nodded. “It’s not like we were making more noise than usual.”
Reya frowned. “Pretty sure you were, but whatever.” She shrugged. “It’s lunchtime, I suppose that’s fair game to stop taking us into consideration, which we’re both grateful for.” Adrian set a plate down in front of her and she thanked him with a smile, appreciating the small gesture. Picking up her fork, she picked at her pasta and took a bite, relishing in the flavour.
“Actually,” Kell interrupted, Reya pausing before taking her next bite, “I need to speak with Stanley after lunch. Adrian, would you mind accompanying us to translate?” She shared a worried look with Adrian, a sinking feeling forming in the pit of her stomach. Suddenly, her lunch looked less appealing.
“What happened?” Adrian asked.
“I’ll tell explain later, once we’re in private. For now, focus on eating. It’s not like an extra twenty minutes will make a difference.”
Adrian filled Stanley in on Kell’s request to speak with him. Stanley drummed his fingers on the table as he accepted Kell’s invitation to meet privately in the med bay after learning that he wouldn’t divulge anything there at the table with the others around. The rest of the lunch passed by quickly, small conversations distracting from everyone’s unspoken curiosity.
Rann volunteered to be the escort onto the ship once everybody was ready to go. Taking up the rear, she herded Adrian and Stanley to follow Kell into the med bay. She chose to wait outside and leave them to their privacy. The doors shut behind her, sealing Adrian in with Kell and Stanley.
“What’s this about that it couldn’t be discussed with the others?” Adrian asked, wary.
Kell looked between the two. “I found something while studying Stanley’s blood that –”
“Kell,” Adrian interrupted, “wait. I’ve already told you, I don’t want to learn anything related to the experiments performed on me. I’m not going to play translator if that means finding out something about them. I don’t want to know what happened to Stanley either, since it’s related to me.”
“And you won’t,” Kell promised quickly. “I can tell him without going into any specifics, but he’s going to want to know more.”
“I made my stance clear on the matter long ago. You have Ava to translate that for you.”
“Adrian, this is something Stanley needs to learn about. You would deny him that?”
“Yes,” Adrian said bluntly.
Kell gave him a searching look. “I see,” he said simply. “I’ll keep it as vague as possible, then. Whatever happened to him is killing him. If nothing’s done, he’s going to die. We need more samples from him to be able to run better tests to see if we can figure out how to stop it.”
Adrian was stunned. He slowly turned to face Stanley, unsure how best to tell him.
“What did the doctor say?” Stanley asked as the silence stretched. “Adrian?”
“He said you’re going to die because of something they did to you.”
Stanley froze. “What?” he croaked. “Did he say why?”
“No. This is where my generosity stops. You decided to put yourself first with the Tribunal, so now I’m doing the same. I won’t translate anything more related to this discussion.”
Stanley looked at Adrian in shock. “You won’t even tell me what’s wrong with me? I find out I’m dying and you’re going to leave it at that?”
“That’s right. Ava will translate the rest of the discussion for you. I’m not leaving you completely helpless.”
“You son of a bitch, I deserve to know what’s killing me!”
“You do,” Adrian acknowledged. “You simply won’t be hearing it from me.”
“Won’t you at least wait with me until Ava arrives in case the doctor needs to speak more?”
“Adrian,” Kell said, hoping to get a word in. “After seeing what’s wrong with Stanley’s blood, a sample from you might be able to help us out since you were both experimented on at the same facility.” Adrian glared daggers at him at the request.
“I refuse,” Adrian spoke flatly. “I always knew you’d come asking for more but I’m not giving you anything else – even if that leaves you with nothing. You already have access to his blood, that should be enough. You don’t need mine and you know it.”
“I disagree. It would be a huge help.”
“For fuck’s sake, my blood is a different colour!” Adrian exploded. “That’s stretching it thin, Kell.” He was thoroughly unimpressed by the request. He refused to be studied once more. Not by a third species. Once they started, they wouldn’t be able to stop. He knew it deep in his bones.
Turning around, Adrian walked towards the door. “I’ll wait outside with Rann. Let me out.” His voice held a sharp edge, brooking no other option.
Kell warily made his way to the control panel and opened the door for him. It opened with a soft hiss, revealing Rann. After briefly explaining the situation to Rann, he hummed in thought. “It’s going to take some time to coordinate having Ava translate. You might as well take Stanley with you and return back to the house.”
“You’re staying behind?”
He nodded. “I have work to do. It’s related to what I needed to talk to them about.”
“I’ll leave you to it, then. Do try to pop in for food every now and then.” Rann instructed Adrian to call Stanley over and the three of them made their way off the ship, leaving her wondering what had happened. She could only hope Reya might tell her later.
Kell watched their receding forms as they moved down the hall, his gaze trained on Adrian’s back, wondering what exactly was wearing the skin of a human and pretending to be one. What he’d learned made him see Adrian for the alien that he was.
And he couldn’t unsee it.
