Page 35 of Reaper
“Agreed,” Reklig said, eyeing me with something akin to admiration. “The General always abandoned those he no longer needed in very difficult situations that pretty much guaranteed a slow and painful death. I am still blown away that the little girl you were managed to survive against all odds. I am in awe.”
The way others reacted to this incredible compliment, I realized it was extremely rare coming from him. That moved me all the more that it radiated sincerity. I mumbled something as a thank you that only made everyone laugh.
“What will become of those people, now that they no longer have a role with the Coalition?” I asked both out of curiosity and to deflect the attention from myself.
“They will go back to a civilian life,” Reaper said with a shrug. “If they were smart, during the decades that the war lasted, they will have acquired new skills to ensure they would have a wide array of opportunities back on their respective homeworlds. Training in every usable discipline is offered freely to every member of the Vanguard and of the Coalition.”
“Oh, that’s not so bad then!” I said, relieved for them.
However, it reminded me once more that I had no clue what to do with myself once on Khepri. Unlike the Coalition members, no free training had been provided for me over the years. Reaper had claimed me as his mate, but would he grow disappointed with me over time if I couldn’t prove myself useful?
Doom and the four men returning from the underground base distracted me from the somber thoughts creeping into my mind. To my pleasant surprise, our team leader showed them what chores needed to be done, and they joined in the efforts to butcher the ridiculous amount of Zebiers still left for us to handle. By the time we called it a night, we were slightly annoyed knowing at least one more day of this awaited us.
Chapter 13
Janelle
Morning found us in a slightly anxious mood, wondering what we would find in the basement. After making quick work of our ablutions, Reaper and I were heading towards the mess hall, hand in hand, for breakfast when my mate stiffened. My head jerked towards him, and I stared at him questioningly. Shock quickly gave way to a thrilled smile.
“We must go to the basement. Stran says the young ones have unfolded!” Reaper said excitedly.
I hated my limited psychic range. While the Creckels and anyone else from the team could reach me from a great distance beyond my personal range, my own limitations prevented me from hearing them. For all I knew, Stran had probably tried contacting me first and hit a wall then reached out to my mate instead.
Before I could react, Reaper whisked me up into his arms and started flying through the hallways of the ship. We zipped past the door of the mess hall just as it was opening.
“Hey! No flying in the corridors!” Jessica shouted.
“Sorry!” Reaper shouted back over his shoulder without stopping.
He made a sharp turn towards the exit and almost smashed into Reklig and Madeline who were walking down the ramp of the ship. That earned him a rather angry yell from the Scelk in a language that I didn’t know. But I could easily guess he hadn’t expressed tender sentiments.
My reckless mate landed right in front of the base’s entrance and only set me down once we were standing on the hovering platform. I should be chastising him, but that playful, bratty side of him made me smile, even as I shook my head at him.
Once Reaper started chuckling, I noticed that I was restlessly shifting on my feet with impatience. Right this instant, the wretched lift felt ridiculously slow getting us to the basement. When we finally reached our destination, Stran all but shouted at us to get a move on in a mix of growls and yips, his broad, flat tail scraping the floor in an excited wagging movement. He was standing next to the repurposed larvae tank which contained the eight young Creckels.
Every single one had unfolded.
“Oh dear!” I exclaimed, my voice choked with emotion.
I snagged a handheld scanner on the medical station we had set up along one of the walls of the room and rushed to the tank. I kneeled next to it and began scanning the babies. Although it didn’t pick up a pulse with their system functioning at an insanely slow rate, the results confirmed the successful rehydration, increased oxygenation, and an almost normal body temperature.
Stran projected an image of one of the babies’ head with a wall in front of it. Although I didn’t doubt his words, I attempted to psychically connect with one of them and indeed met a wall. It didn’t surprise me. They were still awakening. You didn’t go from slowing down your system to 0.01 percent of its normal rate to start running all over the place overnight.
Using a stylus, I pricked the softer underbelly of Drya, one of the young Creckels, to get a blood sample. A quick analysis still showed a high HIT. The Hibernation Induction Trigger was some sort of serum in the blood that forced them to remain asleep. The Creckels wouldn’t wake until its levels significantly dropped. But we could accelerate that process.
“Let’s help these little guys,” I said to the rest of the team that had trickled in while I was examining Drya. I quickly explained my findings before turning to Jessica. “We need to inject them with deraxamine to kickstart their systems. And then they need sun and fresh air. After that, everyone can pitch in to massage their adrenal glands at regular intervals to help them start producing more stimulants on their own.”
We all got to work in a much happier mood than the past couple of days. As the Creckels had absolutely no fat left to fuel their reawakening bodies, we injected them with a cocktail of glucose, electrolytes, lipids, and proteins.
Things were looking up. Even though the adults still seemed a long way from waking, the adolescent Creckels—those that would be deemed the equivalent of a human teenager—appeared to be on the verge of unfolding as well.
I was examining the adult Creckels in the basement when Reaper’s voice suddenly resonated in my mind, startling the living daylights out of me.
“Janelle, are you okay?”he asked—not to say shouted—the tension in his psychic voice almost palpable.
“Yes,”I responded, all of my senses on high alert.“What’s going on?”
“Stay away from the walls,”Reaper said, his voice filled with both relief and worry,“and come upstairs immediately. The membrane is attacking one of the Coalition men.”