Lord Zorn whispered into his comm unit. His voice echoed through the mask I wore within the med tank. "I'll find a way to fix this."
The sound of footsteps told me he had left. I opened my eyes and saw Genbi staring into the med chamber, startling me.
"Don't worry, I didn't tell him you were awake," he began. "I'm assuming I don't have to repeat myself by telling you that I can't remove you from the chamber without risking your life."
I nodded. Whether Lord Zorn knew I was awake was the least of my worries. I was more worried he'd come to his senses and realize I was of no use to him alive.
"Good. I'll also say that it's unlikely Lord Zorn will give up anytime soon. You will not be returned to your home planet."
That truth stung worse than I thought it would. Why would I have any expectations that my estranged criminal seed giver would do anything as kind as return me? But there was that brief moment of hope that he would act as any other spawn maker would. Warped hope as it was, I knew better than to bet on it when I hardly knew if he'd keep me on the ship or kill me.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I know you don't want to be the next Zorn of the birds, but I also believe that you should know that he is correct in at least one thing."
"What is that?" I snarked. I doubted Lord Zorn had anything of value that didn't involve destroying someone's life.
"That you could be the one to discover another way to help your species and the birds. We all can. Why live your life struggling to survive rising to rising, when you can be free to make real change? You will be stuck in this medchamber for some time. What will you choose to do with it? Be a victim and waste away? Or tell me what you wish to learn, so you can do something when you are able to leave?"
He was brain washed by Lord Zorn, and I knew well enough that it wouldn't matter what I said to him. He wouldn't bring me back to Estreldez without Lord Zorn's say so. What could I do while stuck in this pod?
The reason why I was stuck here was my loh.
"I want to know how my body works. What makes it function? So that I can fix it myself."
"Interesting…" Genbi considered my request. "Fixing yourself wouldn't change the predicament you're in, would it? Would leaving the medchamber change things?" He shrugged, leaving me to think about what it would mean to be fixed, but still stuck with Lord Zorn.
Would fixing myself simply put me in a different sort of cage? Genbi stopped as the whir of the door opened with an exchange of air between zones. His voice could be heard echoing in my ears, "I'll have the security commander acquire a scientist that might know more about it. I'm sure Lord Zorn has probably asked her to do that already, though his reasons are different from yours."
Many risings passed before someone visited again, at least while I was awake. Even then, it wasn't to see me. Alarms blared through the room, and Lord Zorn pried through the door, shoving it into the hollow part of the wall on screeching metal. The room must have been locked down, or some security breach made it impossible for even the Lord Zorn to enter without force.
There was nothing I could do while stuck in the medchamber. He didn't even glance my way, like I was merely decoration in the room as he darted straight for a panel in the wall. He tore it open and slammed the lever down. The siren stopped, but the flashing lights remained. Blue haze filled the room like it had its own heartbeat. Screens filled the wall, showing an array of halls and rooms throughout the ship.
One in particular caught my attention. It was the airlock Yueril had been in, and it was empty.
I didn't know if that was something to be relieved about, or terrified. Had he removed Yueril from the room to be jettisoned from the ship? Or was he moved somewhere else, keeping true to his word that I would be the one to send him into space?
Lord Zorn enhanced a different screen with his crew shaking and convulsing on the ground while the sound of retching could be heard. He tapped the comm unit and commanded a passing warrior to move them to medbay. They hesitated before dragging the bodies off the screen down a different corridor.
"Isolate the infected. There is nothing that can be done once they've reached this point. Prepare the decontamination sequence for the locked down sector," Lord Zorn commanded.
I didn't hear what was said on the other line of the communication, but Lord Zorn's irritation made it seem as if the person on the other side did not agree with him. "Once the infected have been isolated, burn off the sector."
Chapter thirteen
Yueril
"Leavehim,"Ihearda voice say as my scales itched from being overly dry. It was typical for that aching feeling when hibernating in a place not in ideal humid conditions. Memories of where I last had consciousness were in the hands of outlaws and the hope that they were able to finish what I could not. Keeping my mate alive.
"The virus doesn't breed in the dead. No need to bother moving it to the incinerator. Grab the emergency oxygen converter and prepare for the decontamination sequences for this sector."
"There aren't enough hazard suits for everyone in this sector..."
"Then they better hope they don't touch anything contaminated until the medics come to clear us."
"You're right," they replied with uncertainty.
My tail twitched as the feeling returned to my limbs. I wasn't fully healed. I could tell by the way I felt more heavy than like the refreshed feeling I got from recently shedding my scales. That was the last stage of recovery— completely reforming new scales and the dead scales molting away. My skin felt tight, too tight. I was waking early, which was rare.
