Chapter 9 | Hazel

Chapter 9

Hazel

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As I felt the fog from my brain fade, I heard Genbi's voice, "Her vitals are stabilized..."

"But?" Lord Zorn could tell there was something he wasn't saying.

"But, her loh are damaged. She was weakened when she attacked you, and according to the tests on her radiation absorption, she will have to be returned to Estreldez sooner rather than later. She isn't holding onto the radiation like before. If you remove her from that chamber without being near the moons, or a radiation pack, she won't survive. She will have to live on Estreldez for the rest of her life, possibly carry a radiation pack with her in case of any disruption from the rays."

"She won't be capable of being the face of the Birds of Zorn..."

"No, My Lord."

A loud crash echoed through the chamber as Lord Zorn cursed. I would be lying if I wasn't relieved that he wasn't going to force me to be part of his outlaw organization, but a spike of fear made me wonder if he would really let me return to Estreldez... or if this was just another reason to kill me. I had no usefulness to him, even my loh were not worth extracting for sale if they couldn't hold radiation. He'd be better off throwing me out the airlock and into space like debris.

Time went by in silence until I finally processed that even if I lived and made it back to Estreldez, I would be an outcast. I've never lived with the clan. None of them knew me, and I would be reintroduced as someone who was damaged beyond repair. Self-pity almost made me ambivalent to whether I lived or died.

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."