Read Online Starbleached by Chelsea Gaither - Free Book Online

leechery.”
    “And you’re above trading medical supplies for bleeding folk
dry?” she said, sarcastically.
    “I am,” It said, no tone in its voice at all.
    Note to self: Overseers have the sense of humor of a
traumatized rock. “How widespread is this disease?” She moved on to the
next patient. If it were this prevalent everywhere, all the antibiotic poppers
and sterilizers in the universe wouldn’t save these people from this nasty
little bug.
    “Is not limited to this area, but no other village has a
problem this severe.”
    “That…is really suggestive.” She closed her eyes, brain
working far too fast to be forgivable. The Overseer had begun to leave. Adry
grabbed its sleeve. “Don’t go anywhere. We need to talk.” She handed over
another three poppers to an old man in faded clothes. “Take the first now, the
next tomorrow, and the third on the next day, okay?”
    Galina took the bowl of poppers. “I can distribute them, if
it is that simple.” Adry nodded, and the old Russian woman moved to the next
patient. She jerked her head at the door. “Go to him, Doctor. Solve our
problem.”
    She went, moving like someone in half a dream. The Overseer
stood outside. Terrible and alien and…bizarrely, more than a little lost. Stockholm
Syndrome, Adry thought, and shook that stupidity off.
    “What did you wish to discuss?” The Overseer asked.
    “A trade.”
     
    Then:
    Alarms sounded throughout Holton. Adry had been through
enough drills to know what they meant. Medium pitch alarm, the station was
venting atmosphere. Compromised weapon systems were a high double blat. And
that low base rumble throbbing through her feet? Invasion. Invasion. Invasion.
    The Overseers had found Holton Station.
    “How did they know where to look?” she whispered to Bryan.
    He took her by the arms and pulled her towards the office
door. “Come on. We have to get you out of here.” Only he didn’t use  the main
exit. He pulled her back to the service entrances. “It’s a faster shot to the
military sections this way.”
    Where the ships that would carry them away were waiting.
“No,” She said. Cold shock was fading back into action. “Bryan, I have
patients. I have to organize the medbay evac. That’s part of my job.”
    “They’re going to evacuate the station.”
    “Exactly. I need to—”
    “Get on a ship. That’s protocol. You’re a partner in my
research, Adry. Your survival is priority.” He closed the door and dragged her
through the hallway.
    “What will you be doing?”
    “I have to delete our research. It’s all backed up on the
evac ships, but we cannot leave anything here. Not one scrap of data. I have to
make sure we get it all.”
    “You have your research, Bryan. I have my patients.” She
took her hand out of his. “I’ll meet you in the military hall, and we’ll go to
the evac ships together. But you have to let me do my job.”
    He closed his eyes, drew her hands to his lips and breathed
in. He was almost shaking with the tension passing all around them. “Valkyrie.”
That grip of his almost hurt her hands. “Promise me you’re not going to get
killed,” He whispered to her fingers. “Please.”
    “Still with that old world charm.”
    Blue eyes darted up to hers. “Don’t you forget that retro
suitcase.” The world shook hard, the noise shattering. He smiled in a tight,
very un-Bryan way. “Time to go.”
     
    *****
     
    Now:
    “The infection has to have a nearby source,” She said,
dryly. “It sounds like this village is in line with a plume. We have to clean
it up.”
    “We?” It asked, sounding amused.
    “You lose half your cattle otherwise.” She sighed, closing
her eyes against her next move. This was betrayal, through and through. But did
she have a choice? “Help me, and I’ll give you the Enzyme formula, and all the
help you need to synthesize it.”
    “Just to save this village?”
    “I saw a couple of the late stage folk. They’re bleeding