Page 29 of Reaper
“Janelle,”Doom’s voice simultaneously said in my mind.“Stran is mentally distressed. His speech is a complete mess. For the first time, I can’t understand him. Can—”
“He’s fine,”I interrupted.“He’s just speaking too fast. He wants to go down there to awaken them. He says they’re hibernating. But they can’t hibernate this long. Give me a moment to reason with him.”
I refocused on Stran.
“Sweetie, it’s been over twenty years,” I said in a gentle voice. “Twenty years with no air, no food. Even in hibernation, they couldn’t have survived this long. They left peacefully.”
Stran’s response was almost angry, the images he bombarded me with akin to an assault. Once again, I struggled to parse through so many, but one kept resurfacing. I had never discussed advanced scientific topics with Creckels before, but during his long stay with the Vanguard, Stran had clearly learned things I had no clue about. Therefore, some of the concepts he was trying to convey to me got lost in translation. But I latched on to that one image of a strange looking creature, like a short, eight-legged caterpillar with a telescopic nose.
“Reaper, do you know what this creature is?” I asked, projecting it to him.
“Yes, it’s a water bear,” he replied, taken aback. He suddenly froze, an air of understanding dawning on him. His head jerked towards the Creckel. “You can hibernate like them?”
Stran gave him a sharp nod.
“Stran, are you sure?” Jessica asked with a gently dubious tone. “To survive this long, they would have needed to go into cryptobiosis. Only microscopic creatures can achieve that state of complete shutdown and survive.”
He snarled, clearly indicating he stood by his statement. But my mind was flipping through my memories of the work my parents had done, and the things I had been allowed to partake in. Crouching in front of Stran, I slipped my fingers behind the creases at the back of both his ears. He tried to jerk his head away from my touch, not wanting to be petted in his current state.
“Peace, Stran,” I said in the stern tone I’d often taken with my Creckel companions over the years when they acted stubborn. “We can’t help you if you can’t communicate rationally.”
He growled. I ignored him and began projecting soothing images while gently scratching the sensitive nooks behind his ears. Jaw clenched, lethal claws digging into the ground, the Creckel took deep breaths to try and rein himself in.
“There you go, sweetie,” I whispered, before rubbing my cheek against the side of his snout. “They are cleaning the air down there so that we can safely go down. If they can be revived, we will make sure of it. But we need you to explain calmly what steps we must take to make it happen.”
Stran bumped my shoulder in an affectionate gesture, then pressed his forehead to the back of my hand in apology. I gave him a psychic nudge to let him know all was well. He then proceeded to show me how we would know if they had survived and the procedure to awaken them. My jaw dropped realizing how the experiment on the modified Creckels had actually crippled them. If what Stran had shown me truly worked—and I had no reason to doubt him—it was clear my captivity companions would have died within a few months into hibernation.
By the time Stran disconnected from my mind, I was stunned to see Thanh, holding a gas mask in her hand, standing on the hovering platform inside the lift. She gestured for us to come.
“Stran, go,” I said to the Creckel, my mind racing. He didn’t make me repeat. I turned to Jessica who was staring at me with undisguised curiosity, like the rest of the team. “Are you familiar with the stimulant deraxamine?”
Jessica’s eyes widened, and her lips slightly parted in shock, no doubt that I would know of such a product. Still, she nodded.
“We have some in stock on board, but I’m able to synthesize more in the lab if needed,” she said.
“Good,” I said forcefully. “Make as much of it as you possibly can. We will also need intramuscular needles, hyposprays won’t cut it.”
“Okay. Anything else?” she asked. I shook my head. “All right, I’m on it.”
“Anything we can do?” Reaper asked.
“Water,” I said. “We need to figure out a way to partially submerge them in water. If Stran is correct, and they have achieved this level of cryptobiosis, then they will have shed all the water from their bodies to prevent damage to themselves. We will need to rehydrate them and hope they are still with us.”
Chapter 11
Reaper
Istared at my woman with a mix of awe and pride. In light of the ordeal she had endured, I had expected her to be timid, skittish, and socially challenged. Such take-charge and assertive behavior from her was not only a nice surprise, but quite the turn on. I loved a strong woman who knew what she wanted and didn’t hesitate to express herself.
But more than that, I was reveling in discovering who my mate was. That gentle but firm way she got Stran to calm down already gave me a hint as to the type of wonderful mother she would be to our children. From our conversations, I had known she had acquired some medical and scientific knowledge from her parents. However, as she’d still been young at the time of their passing, I’d assumed it had been basic, like the superficial things children knew about their parents’ professions. But I was starting to suspect that my mate was quite scientifically savvy, dated though her knowledge might be.
Reklig, my mate, and I hopped onto the hovering platform when it returned from dropping Stran and Thanh in the basement. My Scelk brother hopped off on the main floor to go check what could be used in the lab and hatchery as tubs to partially immerse the Creckels.
However, the moment we reached the basement, what enthusiasm and hope I had felt at the prospect of saving such a large group of Stran’s people instantly died. There was no way these creatures could be revived. On the holographic display, I’d dismissed the dull color of their scales as being caused by the almost monochromatic palette of the projection. But now, standing right in front of them, their color seemed even duller. Another close-range scan from the scanner integrated in my bracer still showed no life signs from any of them. In truth, had I not known these were Creckels, I would have thought they were stone sculptures.
I exchanged a look with Doom, who imperceptibly shook his head, the dejected expression on his face reflecting how I felt. The Creckels had lined up in five columns of about twenty, the adults in the front and, judging by the decreasing sizes of the balls, the younger ones in the back. Stran was roaming around the rows, sniffing at each of the spheres and sometimes pawing at their sides. My mate crouched next to one of the bigger Creckels and poked at its sides with her fingers. I was about to ask what she was looking for when a surge of psychic energy between her and Stran stopped me.
Stran turned to look at her while they discussed. He then gave her a sharp nod before resuming whatever the heck he was doing.