The Devil's Heart - Carmen Carter [61]
“I strive to find beauty in all living beings.” Although in this case, Telev admitted to himself, he would have to try very hard. Even if one could overlook the peculiar dark hair and olive skin color, the alien’s jutting forehead and atrophied auditory organs were quite disconcerting.
Its naked body, when compared to that of an Andorian, was thick-framed and squat; and the sexual organs, if that was indeed their purpose, were in an absurdly vulnerable location.
“I am the Emperor Vitellius!”
Telev twitched and rotated his antennae away from the sound. The alien’s voice was uncomfortably loud, and the strange language was hardened by a clipped accent and too many consonants.
“I shall lead the Romulan people to victory.”
The alien’s limbs trembled, but it was too weak to even raise itself. Telev noted that its eyes were not focused, and it had not reacted to their presence. In an Andorian, these symptoms would accompany eadiliac failure, but this species probably did not even possess an eadilium.
“You will surrender to me or die!” The raving and shouting were incomprehensible.
He guessed that the alien had lost a considerable quantity of the green liquid, but the healer couldn’t replace the volume. The standard treatment of an infusion of water might kill rather than cure.
“There’s nothing I, or any healer, can do for this creature. It will die before I’ve learned enough about its biology to treat it.”
“Too bad,” said Viloff. “There is much we need to know about our new enemies.”
Telev knelt closer to continue his examination.
With a start, he realized that the creature was finally making eye contact.
“Let me go! I command you, let me go!”
Its hands were clutching at its side, digging in the rumpled laying cloth. Viloff explained the action with a rather apologetic sigh. “It carries some sort of talisman, a clan token perhaps, harmless. We tried to remove the thing when the alien was first found, but it held fast and wouldn’t let go. Of course, it was stronger then.”
“You must obey me, or the Ko N’ya will destroy you.”
The alien suddenly lifted up a gray stone and shook it at them. It was an impressive display of strength for a being so near death.
“Surrender! I cannot be defeated.”
The effort was short-lived; the creature collapsed back onto the bed as if drained of all strength.
“I am … the Emperor …”
The alien’s voice dropped to a weak whisper, and it shut its peculiar dark eyes. Pressing a finger against the short neck, Telev monitored the fluttering pulse and wondered whether the rate was too high or too low, and what he could do about it even if he knew the answer.
The fluttering stopped altogether.
“It’s dead,” said Telev. All that remained of this strange being was the simple relic it had carried from its distant homeworld. Curious, Telev plucked the object from the alien’s slack hands. “A superstitious race,” mused the healer as he examined the rough stone. It was warm, apparently heated by the fevered body of its owner.
“We shall have to carry the body to the kilns ourselves,” said Viloff. She stepped to the door and ordered the men to the task.
“Skae!” cursed one of the soldiers as they roughly bound up the corpse again. “I still reek of its gore.”
“Forget what you’ve seen here tonight, Healer,” said the commander. “Andor has enough worries of its own.”
“Who would believe me?” He held up the stone. “What of this?”
But the soldiers were already gone, faded into the shadows of the night. The only proof of their brief visit was the ruined pallet on the floor.
And the stone.
It was still warm, easing the painful throbbing in his hands, and in the darkness its dull surface seemed to glitter and sparkle. So this and the cold cup of tea were his only remaining comforts, yet they were like a bounty of riches in the midst of devastation.
Tucking the alien talisman in the crook of his arm, Telev carried the canister of talla with him to the wards. Sathev was able to steep five cups of weak tea from the contents and