University [Sunsinger Chronicles Book 6] Read online

  “Oh.” Bain thought of what he had heard the guard say earlier that afternoon. “Lin, do you think Heleen is.... “He glanced at Gorgi and his friend grinned, daring him to say the words. “Do you think she ... well, she likes Ian a lot."

  “That's quite evident.” She laughed softly. “I think our dear distant cousin was totally oblivious to how she feels about him. Until recently. I noticed him giving her some odd looks today—quite apart from his trouble with vision. He might just be waking up to the possibilities."

  “That's good."

  “Go make your supper. Your low blood sugar is making you say strange things. Come by my room before you go to bed, all right?"

  “All right."

  The connection broke. For a few moments, the boys just sat in the galley booth and looked at each other.

  “You have to admit, they make a good couple,” Gorgi said with a patently false smile of innocence plastered on his face.

  Bain kicked him under the table. They would have turned it into a wrestling match, but they were both too hungry.

  During dessert, Bain made a discovery that embarrassed and frustrated him. He should have seen it long ago, he knew. It should have been obvious.

  They had left the printouts spread across the table while they ate. As they talked, still studying the schematics, they sometimes pointed to a tunnel or doorway or stairwell with a fork or spoon, which led to spots of sauce on the plastic sheets.

  Dessert was whipped cherry ice with butter cookies. Bain scooped up a last melting mouthful, listening as Gorgi expounded on his newest theory of how the attacker had slid down the railing of the stairs, thereby getting to the basement level in half the calculated time.

  “No, the rails aren't wide enough. They aren't slick—they have little ridges, for traction.” Bain gestured at the drawing of the stairwell with his spoon. The movement sent his last drippy bit of cherry ice flying. Gorgi laughed and Bain groaned and reached for a crumpled napkin to wipe up yet another spill.

  The red, sticky smear had landed on a schematic of the park system that ringed the buildings in that half of the dome. They provided a buffer between the buildings and the dome wall, giving an illusion of spaciousness. Bain stopped with the napkin underscoring a circle with the left-curving arrow symbol that indicated an irrigation tunnel. There was a number next to the arrow, indicating the spot where the tunnel began, and what schematic sheet it appeared on. Hands trembling, knowing instinctively he had found something important, Bain shoved the napkin aside and started leafing through the pile of plastic sheets. He waved Gorgi to silence when his friend demanded to know what he was doing now.

  When he found it, the irrigation tunnel originated from a reservoir basin with an access tunnel in the first floor of Dr. Frurin's building. The hatch into that tunnel was in the stairwell. Bain pointed out the two drawings to Gorgi and waited for his friend to understand.

  “He never went outside until he got to the park. From there, it's only a short walk to the airlock leading into the hotel district dome,” Gorgi said after only a few seconds of frowning study.

  “I bet if we took that tunnel, we could get into the building and upstairs and nobody would ever know it."

  “Want to find out?"

  Chapter Nine

  Bain and Gorgi left their supper dishes drying and hardening on the table and hurried out of Sunsinger. They took hand-held light tubes, infrared goggles and stunner wands—just in case. Lin didn't believe in weapons. Past experience had taught her the enemy was always ready to shoot and even kill if their prey showed any sign of being able to defend themselves. She preferred the easily hidden stunner wands and always wore her collar link so Ganfer could call for help and track her.

  Bain explained all that to Gorgi when his friend asked why Lin didn't carry multi-darts or beam burners that they could use. After all, what if they ran into the attacker in the tunnel?

  “Besides,” Bain said as he finished, “anything stronger than a stunner stick would be picked up by the security scanners in the tunnel coming from the landing field, and we'd get stopped."

  “Oh. Good reason.” Gorgi adjusted the infrared goggles hanging around his neck and made sure the light tube and stunner wand were both easily accessible in either hip pocket. “I'm ready."

  “Me, too. Ganfer, are you ready?"

  “Of course, Bain. I have no luggage to pack,” the ship-brain responded with a hint of chuckle at the back of his voice.

  They were quiet, all the walk down the environment tube and the tunnel under the landing field, and through the three domes until they got to the University dome holding Dr. Frurin's building. Night had fallen and the supplemental lights had dimmed to a soft, silvery glow approximating moonlight. Bain tried the infrared goggles and found there was too much light, rendering them useless. They didn't turn on their light tubes, afraid to attract attention, and didn't really need them until they got among the bushes and trees of the little park.

  “There's the tunnel,” Bain said. He pointed at a thick clump of bushes at the base of a little hillock. Everything was darkness and shadow, under a silvery sheen of ‘moonlight’ on the screen of leaves.

  “We never would have found it without those charts,” Gorgi whispered. He glanced at Bain and grinned. His teeth flashed white in the shadowed mask of his face. For a moment, both boys had a hard time breathing as they tried not to laugh aloud.

  The bushes crackled and creaked and their interlaced branches tried to stick together as the boys pushed through them. Thorns tugged at their clothing and a few newer branches snapped, spreading sticky-bitter-sweet sap on their hands. Bain grimaced and wiped his dirty hand on the side of his pants. He should have brought gloves. Next time, he would have to remember gloves.

  The barrier of the bushes vanished, plunging them into total darkness. The tunnel was a barely a meter and a half tall—they would have to crouch down as they walked. Bain caught at Gorgi's arm.

  “Goggles,” he whispered. The echo of his voice seemed to shiver and shimmy up and down the irrigation tunnel. He slipped on the goggles and muffled a sigh of disappointment. The tunnel was still black—meaning everything was cold, with no heat radiation to be caught in the lenses. Bain was disappointed. He liked wearing the goggles because they protected his eyes and left his hands free for other things. “Guess we have to use the tubes,” he muttered. He winced as his voice echoed a little louder.

  “No, wait a minute.” Gorgi tapped his shoulder and pointed. His arm left a wave of dull red heat signature flowing through the darkness. “See that little spot over there?"

  “No—oh.” He squinted, straining his eyes. Gorgi was right, there was something about four meters along the tunnel. The heat was so sparse it was barely visible in the goggles. Bain felt a moment of jealousy for his friend's good eyes.

  “Whatever it is, it's small. I vote we use the lights."

  “All right.” Bain slid the goggles down so they hung around his neck again, and reached for his light tube.

  Both boys winced as the lights came on, blinding bright after the nearly utter darkness, until their eyes adjusted. The inside of the tunnel was plain, smooth, silver-white construction liqui-stone. Only water had flowed through it, and the slight downward slope had kept other things from flowing back along the course. The inside was nearly clean, so light reflected easily. The dark blot four meters along the tunnel, at the bottom curve, was easy to see. Bain recognized it almost immediately, though he couldn't understand how.

  “Joobi!” His voice bounced and shrieked off the tunnel sides. He ran the rest of the way and fell to his knees next to the torn, crumpled little creature.

  The skimmer's para-sails were torn to shreds and dried blood matted its fur. Bain was startled to realize Joobi's blood was as red as his own. His beak was dented and cracked, as if someone had taken the creature by his long, prehensile tail and swung him around, smashing his head against something hard—like the walls of the tunnel.

  “He's
broken up pretty bad,” Gorgi said. He swallowed hard and looked like he would be sick for a moment. “Bain, who would be so nasty.... “He sat back on his heels, balanced against the curve of the wall. “He's awake."

  “Oh, no.” Bain looked at the little animal's eyes and saw the lids fluttering. Gorgi was right. “Joobi, it's Bain. We're going to get you home as soon as we can."

  “He can't understand you,” his friend muttered.

  “He knows my voice. That has to help.” Bain handed his light tube to Gorgi and slid both hands under the crumpled heap of fur. He nearly cried out when he felt the broken bones, the clotted blood sticking to the material of the tunnel, and realized how badly hurt the creature was. Then pity gave way to rage. Bain wanted to find the man that did this to Joobi and punch him and throw him against the wall and show him what it felt like.

  Joobi's eyes opened and a strangled little squawk escaped his shattered beak. Bain froze, waiting, not wanting to hurt the little animal any further. His eyes turned, focusing on Bain. The brightness of terror in those eyes softened and a tiny crooning sound emerged, just for a moment.

  “He knows me.” Bain's voice tried to break under a sob. He continued picking up the animal, and held him close to his chest. “Come on."

  “Where are we going?"

  “I don't ... Ganfer, call Lin?"

  “Right here, Bain,” Lin said in a few seconds. “Heading back to your room now?"

  “No. Lin, do you know where Heleen is?"

  “She's right here. We just left Ian a few minutes ago and we're in her quarters. She can hear you."

  “We found Joobi."

  “That's wonderful,” Heleen said, her voice distant and strained with the effort to be heard. “Ian will be delighted."

  “He's beat up something awful.” Bain looked at Gorgi and realized his eyes were hot with tears that wanted to fall. He blinked and felt a few trickles go down his cheeks. He felt a little better when he realized his friend's eyes were glistening wet too.

  “Oh, no.” Silence for a moment. “Bring him up to the lab, Bain. Ian had special medicine brought in, that he could use on Joobi if anything happened. His chemical system is just different enough that—just bring him to the lab."

  “But the door's guarded."

  “I'll send down a security clearance for you."

  “And for Gorgi? We found Joobi together."

  “Of course. I'm going to the lab right now."

  It only took a few minutes to emerge from the tunnel and hurry through the park buffer area to the front of the building. The security guard on duty was the woman who had come on duty that afternoon when the boys were there before. Bain wondered a moment how long their shifts were, and felt sorry for her.

  “You found him?” She stepped away from the door to meet the boys, and focused the beam of her own hand light on the crumpled form of Joobi in Bain's arms. “Oh blessed fires,” she whispered. Her voice broke. “Anybody who would do that to Joobi deserves to have his head broken,” she growled. She hurried back to the door and tapped in the code to let the boys through. As they passed through the doorway, she sketched a salute to the boys.

  “Wow,” Gorgi breathed. He glanced at Bain and a grin broke the somberness that had held him since they found Joobi. “Guess they don't think we're useless kids anymore, huh?"

  Bain shook his head. His throat and chest felt too tight to speak. He wasn't sure what he felt; anger or sorrow or fear or just a sense of sickness at the cruelty of people. Somehow, it was easier to accept people stealing disease cultures than it was to see something small and defenseless broken by cruelty.

  The lift car was back in use again. The boys rode up to Dr. Frurin's floor in silence. When the doors slide aside, Bain imagined he could still smell the smoke. The air was clear and the door to Dr. Frurin's lab stood open. The mess inside had been cleaned up, down to the last spatter of blood on the floor. They went inside to wait.

  Heleen appeared less than a minute later, her hair streaming down her back and her face gleaming with a sheen of perspiration. She nodded to the boys and leaned against the wall, panting.

  “Whew—I haven't run so hard or fast in years.” She tried to grin. Then she saw Joobi in Bain's hands and a little cry of pain escaped her. She gestured at the workstation in the middle of the room. “I'll get a pad, and you can put him down."

  Bain stepped over to the gleaming silver counter of the workstation and waited, watching Heleen dash around the room, taking a little tray of tiny bottles from one cabinet, a white cloth pad from another, bandages from another, a scanner wand from a drawer. It took her less than thirty seconds to come back to the workstation. Gorgi stayed in the doorway, positioned like a guard.

  “Hold him for a minute more.” She slid transparent gloves onto her hands, pushing up her sleeves to her elbows. The gloves spread up her arms, past her elbows, bunching up on her sleeves. She filled a spray injector from one of the tiny bottles. “This is a painkiller, gauged for Joobi's metabolism and chemistry. What they'd use on us would kill him. There now, baby,” she crooned as she touched the injector to Joobi's bloody shoulder, “you'll feel better in just a minute."

  Joobi crooned and its eyes fluttered open for a moment. Then the fluttering stopped and Bain felt the tense, minuscule trembling of the battered body fade away.

  “He'll probably fall asleep in another minute,” Heleen said, watching. “Take away the pain, and all he has left is exhaustion.” She smiled sadly, her own eyes bright with the first hint of coming tears, and took Joobi from Bain's hands. “How did you find him? Where was he?"

  Bain and Gorgi explained the charts and their attempts to help while she gently stretched Joobi out on the cushioned pad and examined the little creature. She nodded her head from time to time and made ‘uh huh’ noises, but Bain suspected she really wasn't listening.

  Then, just as Gorgi got to the part where he had seen the little spot of warmth that was Joobi, Heleen froze. Bain held up a hand, signaling his friend to quiet. They waited, until the woman reached for a tiny pair of forceps and probed the torn edges of Joobi's sail, up near his arm.

  “Culture dish material,” she said, and held up a sliver of transparent material.

  “He threw a dish at Joobi?” Gorgi asked.

  “Maybe.” She closed her eyes a moment, then opened them and finally looked at the boys instead of Joobi. “Or maybe Joobi was trying to get the dish back. He knows what belongs to Ian. I remember one time a student had permission to take a piece of equipment to the students’ lab, for a special project, but Joobi didn't know that. He kept zooming around the poor girl's head, screeching at the top of his lungs, clacking his beak. You'd have thought someone tried to steal the security codes for the Council's top secret data banks.” A chuckle caught in her throat.

  “Then we'll probably find other pieces in the tunnel, or maybe in the park,” Bain said. “Maybe Joobi was trying to get home after he got hurt."

  “Maybe. But if even one dish broke.... “Heleen's eyes widened. “Bain, Gorgi, I want you to go into that room and get out of your clothes immediately.” She gestured at a door into what Bain had assumed was a closet. “There's a decontamination shower stall in there—wash yourselves thoroughly and dump all your clothes into the isolation chute next to the stall before you wash. Now,” she said, her voice hardening when the boys hesitated.

  Chapter Ten

  "But—what do we wear?” Bain nearly whispered.

  “Oh.” She almost smiled. “There are smocks and slippers and masks in sterile pouches. Put on all three."

  “Why the masks?” Gorgi wanted to know as the boys headed for the door. “We're not going to catch anything, are we?"

  “It's in case you've already caught something.” Heleen turned back to Joobi. “It's to keep you from contaminating anything or anyone else."

  Bain didn't make the connection until he had stepped out of the shower. His skin stung from scrubbing hard under the sour-smelling antiseptic, deconta
mination spray. He wiped himself dry on the harsh paper sheet waiting next to the shower, and hurried into the smock and slippers Gorgi had pulled out for him. Then it was Gorgi's turn.

  Suddenly, he understood, and it made him shake a little. Joobi had bits of broken culture dish in his body. The intruder had stolen the Mashrami anti-virus. Dr. Frurin had even said their research was in the dangerous stage, where the anti-virus was more dangerous to Humans than to Mashrami.

  “It could be anti-virus culture in that broken dish,” he said, when Gorgi stepped dripping from the shower.

  The other boy nodded, grim, and grabbed up another long, harsh sheet of paper to dry himself with hard strokes. Bain realized his friend had figured that part out, too.

  When they went back into the lab, the security guard who had met them at the door was waiting, watching Heleen work on Joobi. The woman nodded to them and hurried into the scrubdown room and quickly closed the door.

  “Do you think we infected—” Bain stopped short when he took a closer look at Heleen.

  She wore a full isolation suit; transparent hood and gloves and a breather filter pack hanging down her back.

  “Probably not,” the woman said, without turning to look at them. “That's just to be safe. I'm taking samples from Joobi and we'll study them before we need samples from either of you."

  “Oh, great,” Gorgi muttered. “Samples."

  “How is he?” Bain asked. He stepped over to the other side of the workstation—leaving two meters between himself and Joobi—and leaned against the counter to watch.

  “He's dying. I've made him as comfortable as possible, but he's too torn up inside to do him any good, even if I could figure out what to do.” Heleen reached for a culture dish and wiped a lab instrument through the pale pink medium. It left a dark red streak. She screwed the lid on, made a notation on the lid and set that dish aside, separate from the four other already prepared dishes.