Read Online The Final Key: Part Two of Triad by Catherine Asaro - Free Book Online Page A

its contents, because he kept hoping he could go home.
    His medicine was inside the bag.
    With shaking fingers, he pulled out the syringe he had taken from Dehya's suite and programmed in the relaxant. He had just managed to inject himself when he collapsed on the bed and began to convulse again. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't make a sound. His throat closed up while his body arched and seized.
    When his muscles finally released, Eldrin groaned with relief. The drug was taking effect. His body slowly relaxed, muscle by muscle, and his nausea receded. The pain in his head eased. For a long time he lay on his back. He didn't understand what was wrong with him. Only Dehya's syringe could be programmed to dispense this medicine he so needed with such urgency; others he had tried didn't even recognize the drug Alaj had prescribed her.
    Eldrin would never forget its name.
    Phorine.
    i
    The Claret Suite
    Soz was almost ready to go to the starport. A shuttle there would take her to a transport ship in orbit, and the transport would carry her to her new assignment, a tour onboard the Imperial Fleet battle cruiser, Roca's Pride. Good name, that. She approved. But first she had two stops to make. After seeing her parents a few days ago, her mood had lifted. Her father hadn't been able to walk much, so she had kept the tour of the academy brief and spent most of the time talking to them. Even after they had left, her spirits had remained high. But now they dimmed.
    She rode a mag-lev train into HQ City. It didn't take long to reach the hospital. Today she went inside Althor's room instead of staying in the viewing chamber. She walked quietly to the bed, though only she could hear her footsteps. He lay on his back, his face gaunt, his body kept alive by lines and machines.
    Soz sat in a chair by the bed and spoke softly. "I came to say goodbye, but just for now." Her voice caught. "Althor, you must get better. You have to carry your half of this Imperial Heir business."
    Only machines whispered in the room. Soz couldn't believe he had been dead for over two months. Althor, come back , she thought.
    His eyes opened. She almost jumped out of her chair and shouted for the doctors. Then she saw his blank gaze. The monitors around his bed confirmed the truth: his condition hadn't changed. His brainstem had partially survived, and it continued to control his heart rate, breathing, reflexes, the contraction of his pupils, his swallowing reflexes. It even regulated his sleep cycles. Yesterday he had moved his fingers. If
    a sharp edge touched his skin, he jerked. But he was conscious of nothing. His cerebral cortex had died. He had lost the functions that gave him personality, intelligence, memory. Modern medicine could do a great deal, but it couldn't repair his mind. The essence of Althor, her brother, was gone.
    "I don't want to say goodbye." A tear ran down her face. "I'll see you again. I promise."
    Soz walked out onto the training fields. She had one hour left, just enough time to complete one last task.
    In a distant quadrangle, Lt. Colonel Dayamar Stone was working with a group of novices. Sunrays slanted across the fields, gilding athletes with antiqued light as if they were figures out of a legend rather than real people. They were doing calisthenics, led by a cadet in their class. Soz jogged over and walked around their formation, hanging back. Stone stood several meters to one side, peering at a holoboard. As she approached him, he glanced at her.
    Soz stopped a few paces away and snapped a salute. "Sir!"
    He returned her salute. "At ease, Valdoria."
    Soz relaxed an infinitesimal amount.
    "What brings you out here?" Stone asked.
    "I leave tonight for Roca's Pride, sir."
    "Yes. I heard."
    "I was wondering—"
    He waited. "Yes?"
    "Sir, I'd like to run the Echo."
    Stone visibly tensed. He was the one who had suspected her of cracking the meshes so she could cheat on the obstacle course. He hadn't had any evidence; Soz knew how to