Copyright 2024 – Daemon D. Hart
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The Human Bearer
Waiting was a difficult thing to do. Riordan paced the room but did so quietly since he didn't want to wake up the little ones sleeping soundly on the bed. Xeus hadn't insisted, in his usual manner, that they should sleep inside the water tank so that they would grow faster. It looked like lenience wasn't a stranger to the stern general, after all, when the circumstances demanded it of him.
It was taking a lot, that meeting. Riordan wished he could barge in, like it had happened in the past, but his efforts seemed useless. Maybe Xana had taken care of that, somehow preventing him from gaining access to the Xeno-only get-together – or maybe special security measures were taken given the nature of the investigation. That reminded Riordan how much he needed Ferix's lessons on becoming a better empath so that he could communicate with his husband whenever needed.
"I'm not looking to get into trouble," he began, "but can you please watch over the boys, father?"
"What do you plan to do?" Xeus asked. Unlike him, he appeared his usual self, although that meant there was a certain tension in the general's body anyway.
"I want to see the young doc. He might have valuable input on the matter." As difficult as Riordan found to trust others, Xeus was family, and that meant he was included.
"His Royal Chancellor doesn't need his input on the matter since he didn't call for him."
"Okay, I'm glad that I have your confirmation that Ferix is not in that meeting. Can you tell me if he's in his lab? He usually is, but it would be nice to announce myself first."
Xeus gave him a long look. "You are stubborn. What makes you have no trust in the conclusion His Royal Chancellor will reach?"
"It's not all black and white," Riordan replied tersely. "For all we know, there could be forces at work that want to take Drato down for whatever reasons. Proofs can be planted, witnesses can be bribed. Don't tell me you've never watched crime television," Riordan forced himself to joke so that he could get Xeus's approval to leave and see Ferix.
"Your gut tells you all this?"
"In a way. I'm sure the young doc could offer a pair of fresh eyes on the matter. And, you know, he's pretty smart."
"Yes, I have noticed. He is what you would call a genius on Earth. He is out of the ordinary in terms of his intellect compared to the vast majority of Xenos too. You have my permission. And he'll be waiting for you."
"Thank you, father," Riordan said and moved in for a clumsy hug. Xana had told him that their species had started to develop feelings and attachments because of their contact with humans, but he thought that something must have already been there. Why would Xeus save Xana and Junior on Galatea? Why not opt for what was considered reasonable and rational, such as leaving them behind?
"Come on. Off you go," Xeus said and patted his head, just as clumsily as Riordan had embraced him.
They all had some learning to do, it looked. With another murmured thank you and a quick stop to kiss Junior and Dario on their foreheads, he was out the door. In all truth, he had no idea how helpful Ferix would be in exonerating Cario, but, as Xeus had pointed out, the young doc was a genius.
And geniuses could be very helpful if pointed in the right direction, or so Riordan thought.
Ferix didn't appear in the least surprised to see him, so Riordan had to wonder what Xeus could have told him in regards to being paid a visit under the strained circumstances on the ship. On his way to the doc's med bay, Riordan had looked at the guards and bearers passing by, wondering at how normal everything seemed. Either the news of what had happened to Jasno was still being kept under wraps, or His Royal Chancellor had put the word out for everyone to behave like they would normally do.
He didn't have time for details. If Marn and his counselors reached the conclusion that Cario was innocent, all for the better. But he didn't believe things to be that easy. That had been a proper descent of troops, with Jasno's Xenos barging in and the lizard guards following soon after. And they had been so sure that Cario was guilty. Riordan didn't like it one bit.
"Have you heard what happened?"
Ferix nodded. "I want to secure some samples of the substances found in the bearer's quarters, but for the moment, my request is still pending."
"They didn't put you on the committee or whatever it is that they use to examine those things, right?"
Ferix confirmed with a short nod. Riordan became acutely aware that the young doctor was examining him with keen eyes.
"Is there something weird about me that makes you so interested?" Riordan eventually asked. It was better to have all that out of the way before they moved further. After all, what he wanted to ask of Ferix might be seen as insubordination. It helped that Ferix was interested in the case, anyway, but Riordan didn't want to let things simply happen. The look of absolute hatred on Mikar Perana's face while holding his injured eye wasn't easy to forget. The other had appeared just as furious, but their anger was cold, and that made Riordan's gut react. Something wasn't right with that picture.
"Your survival on Galatea, such an incredible feat," Ferix said with a sly smile. He looked cute when he tried to be cunning.
Riordan sighed. They should be focusing on the important bits, not whatever happened what seemed like a long time ago. "Okay, what about it?"
"I've noticed something in your blood. It made me wonder."
Riordan narrowed his eyes as he took in Ferix's pleasant face. "You weren't in charge of patching me up, were you? You were taking care of Xana."
"Still," Ferix said with a small shrug. "You are a human, and you survived what could end up in the demise of trained Xenos. I always wondered, which is why I took a blood sample from you."
"Do I want to know how you got your hands on such a thing if it wasn't your business to know about it?"
Ferix smiled, pleased with himself. "Probably not. But I've learned from General Lei that you took something the bearer now being put under scrutiny gave you."
Riordan felt his jaw dropping. "What? I mean, how the hell would he know? Did Xana tell him? And why did he tell you?"
Again, Ferix looked at him with a strange look in his eyes. "You are all of the same bloodline. I mean, not you, since you are human," he corrected himself. "But it would be quite difficult for Xana to keep things away from General Lei. Unless he chooses to guard his thoughts by taking special measures."
That meant that when he had confessed to Xana about Cario's gift, Xeus had caught whiff of it right away. And the old man hadn't thought it a good idea to bring it up. A fine family they were making.
"No shit," Riordan murmured. "That's so news to me. But since I'm not of the same blood, it's not the same with me, right?"
"No, but humans are easy to read, as you would say," Ferix said with a satisfied grin.
"Okay, you're acting really weird. Out with it."
"Out with what?"
"What makes you smirk like that?"
Ferix put his gloved hands up. "I come in peace. I want to examine you."
"You come in peace? Who told you to speak like that?"
"Vasko told me it's an appeasing greeting formula on Earth."
Vasko, one of Lewis's husbands, he with the odd eyes, as Riordan recalled. "Is he your friend or something?"
"He is also what you would call a doctor. Well, not quite so, because he didn't finish his studies like I did. But we studied the same disciplines."
"Okay, let's keep ourselves on track here," Riordan said as he shook his head. "What do you think you'll discover if you examine me? And I hope your examination doesn't involve anything weird."
"Weird is too broad a word," Ferix retorted. "I can't guarantee that."
"Fair. Go ahead. What makes you so curious about me?"
"It is my understanding that you ingested something Cario Hamen gave you."
"Yes, okay, I admit it, since it's no longer a secret, it seems. He distilled sangar to make it more potent."
"Multiple times more potent. An interesting aspect of sangar we haven't explored. Yet."
"I'm here to ask for your help," Riordan said. "To prove that Cario's not to blame for whatever happened to Jasno," he added so that the genius doctor didn't get sidetracked too much by his own plans and experiments.
"You don't trust that His Royal Chancellor will reach the correct decision in his case?"
"You sound just like my daddy-in-law," Riordan said with a short groan. "It's not that I doubt Marn, that's not how it is. But this thing has happened before, right?"
"What do you mean?" Ferix asked with avid curiosity.
"I'm talking about Florent Kasido," Riordan said in one breath. "He, too, was put on trial for having ingested something that caused him to lose the egg he was carrying. Gamni Gafilos's egg, precisely. Does that ring any bell?"
"I don't know what that means, but I am familiar with the case you mentioned. And Florent Kasido now resides in our commander's quarters. His body, I hear, is healed, but his mind is a different matter."
Riordan scolded himself internally for not having checked on Florent for some time now. It was good to hear about him, even if the news didn't appear to be all good. "Because of the bond with Gamni Gafilos? That got shattered when Xana's dad killed the fucker."
"Yes," Ferix confirmed. "And the commander wants to make sure he is fully recovered before attempting to have him carry his egg."
"I wouldn't have pegged Kanto for the caring kind, but that's good to hear. Okay, so you know about Florent. And now, we have something of a copycat, right? I mean, a bearer drinks some tea, and bang, he loses the eggs. Two in this case. I don't know about you, but I don't believe in coincidences."
"Unless Cario Hamen was the same person to supply the substance ingested by Florent Kasido before the unfortunate incident."
"There's no way!" Riordan exclaimed. "As far as I know, Florent just asked for some tea from Earth, which, in itself, sounds like a really strange detail. I mean, his diet should have been closely supervised. By his owner," he added, weighing on each word to make sure that Ferix followed his logic.
"You are correct in your assumptions. But what will you say if the similarity between the two cases is explained by discovering that it was Cario Hamen behind the first, as well?"
"I would call total bullshit." Riordan pressed his fingers against his temples, as he focused on processing the new direction Ferix was suggesting.
"The Kasido case happened some time ago. That means that it cannot be easily re-examined again. All traces of it were lost along with the planet we left behind. But I can do it," Ferix said with self-assurance.
"What?"
"If I had a sample of Florent Kasido's blood, and one of Jasno Berida's blood, I could compare the two."
"Don't you think they'll do it if that's what they're thinking too?" Riordan questioned, as his mind was reeling with the strange possibilities mentioned by Ferix. "They must be conducting the same kind of analysis."
"But you," Ferix pointed at him, "believe that they can't do it. Not the correct way. Not the way I'd do it."
It was Riordan's turn to put his hands up. "I didn't say anything of the kind."
"You're thinking it. It's enough for me." Ferix moved closer, his eyes filled with excitement. "You humans are so interesting. Your blood can tell us so much about you. I have been running my own experiments for a while now, but my contact with bearers is very limited. Actually, you're the only one I have been so close to."
"Weird genius," Riordan commented under his breath. "Okay, I think I like what you're saying. If whoever it is that wants to pin this on Cario and cause trouble for Drato and who knows how many others wants to spin this tail to make it that the two cases have the same perp, they better think again. But even if that's not the case, can you prove Cario's innocence? By examining Jasno's blood?"
"If I gain access to all the samples found in your friend's room and the bearer's blood, yes."
"You sound sure of yourself. I like it. Then, if they can't prove it, everything will be deemed circumstantial evidence. Works for me. At least for now. Okay, I'm ready for your experiment. What do you want me to do?"
"Please step into here," Ferix said and pointed at an adjacent door. "My belief is that I will reach some very interesting conclusions."
"Okay. But be gentle with this guinea pig, okay? And needles make me squeamish," he joked.
The fact that he had Ferix as an ally, even one with his own agenda, was enough for now.
Ferix had put him through the wringer, as he had seemed interested in testing his physical abilities in particular. At the same time, the good doc had offered him the first pointers in initiating non-verbal convos with his dear Xana and not only. It appeared that Ferix was so grateful for Riordan's collaboration that he wanted to offer as much as he could in exchange.
There hadn't been needles save for one necessary to take a new blood sample, but some special sensors attached to his body. Riordan had felt like an astronaut getting ready for exploring the vast expanse of the universe.
"So?" he asked as he stepped out of the room after Ferix had told him their little experiment was over. "What do you think so far?"
"As I suspected, you have special markers in your blood that are being modified by the interaction with the distilled sangar Cario gave you. No, that's not how it is." Ferix appeared to struggle to find the right words. "It is more like the Xeno substance found an excellent compatibility with your body's genetic makeup to create something new."
"Okay, I think my head hurts. Am I going to become a mutant? I feel like pulling Cario's ears for it," he joked, "but he helped me survive on that suicide mission so I can't."
"It's more complex than that," Ferix said in frustration. "That is why I should be allowed to work with bearers and examine them. Riordan," he added in a determined voice, "when Xenos have intercourse with humans, the body fluids they transfer help with the creation of the womb where the egg nests to be carried to term."
"It sounds so not sexy, but please continue," Riordan said. "What's that got to do with what Cario gave me?"
Ferix moved away and began slithering to and fro, his own way of pacing the floor. He appeared excited but also confused and a bit troubled. Riordan followed him with his eyes for a while.
"Okay, you're really making me dizzy. Stop and tell me what your conclusion is."
"I believe," Ferix said as he stopped and stared at Riordan with shiny eyes, "that I'm on the brink of an amazing discovery, only that I don't know yet what it is!"
"Ah, I see. Actually, I don't."
Ferix gestured for him to guide him out the door. "I must focus on the results so far. Please do not hold it against me--"
"That you want me to get the hell out of here," Riordan said. "No worries. I have a lot of things to do, too. So, can I truly count on your help if push comes to shove in Cario's case? The sooner we can prove his innocence, the better."
"You can count on me. But I will demand to examine you from time to time. You, Riordan," Ferix said as he grabbed his hands in an unusual emotional gesture for him, "are evolution in process. And I must document it, and understand it, and--"
"So, I am becoming a mutant," Riordan said with a sigh.
"Mutations are not a bad thing," Ferix countered with a confused expression on his face. "The best outcome of possible results. It's the Xeno way." He dropped Riordan's hands just as promptly as he had grabbed them. "I will be busy, but when you want to see me, now you know how to announce your visit."
"I do. Thanks a lot, Ferix, really."
Evolution in process. Not only him, presumably, but other bearers, too. Well, he hoped he wouldn't grow a third ear. But, after all, everything was game.
tbc
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Check out some naughty pics of Riordan on my blog:
https://daemondhart.blogspot.com/2024/06/a-naughty-set-of-rio-pics-superfan.html