Cibola Burn (Expanse 4)
Page 117“We’re working on fixing that,” Holden replied, tossing the man’s hand terminal to the ground next to him. “You feel free to come look me up after.”
“I will,” Murtry said. The RCE security chief picked himself up and began carefully walking toward the alien tower’s entrance.
When he was far enough away he wouldn’t hear, Holden said, “Looking forward to it.” He was surprised to find that was true. When Murtry disappeared around the corner of the tower, Holden began his slow trudge the other direction.
His earbud crackled to life and Amos said, “Cap? That doctor is looking for you.”
“Lucia or Elvi?”
“The cute one.”
“Lucia or Elvi?”
“The one not married to our prisoner.”
“Tell Elvi I’ll be there after this pass around the tower,” Holden said and killed the connection.
A few minutes later he rounded the last corner, bringing the tower entrance into sight. Elvi was waiting for him there, her face set in a deep frown.
“It didn’t work,” Holden said.
“What?”
“What?” Elvi replied, “Why do you say that? What happened?”
“You’re frowning.”
“Oh. No. I was just thinking that the membrane-bound proteins in our cells must have some sort of functional sites in common with the local life, even though as far as I can tell, they’re totally different proteins. The oncocidals are having a similar effect on mitotic division even though our amino acid groups barely overlap. It’ll take decades to figure that one out.”
“So let’s pretend I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Holden said.
“It’s working,” Elvi said, and her frown shifted into a brilliant smile. “The microorganism’s cell replication is failing. The colonies are breaking down and the light-scattering effect is going too. I can almost read again, if the font’s big enough.”
Holden felt a rush of relief that immediately turned into a wave of dizziness. He collapsed against the wall of the tower, taking long slow breaths to keep from passing out. A few meters away, a slug crawled along the wall toward him. He started to poke it off the wall with his shovel, then realized he’d lost it somewhere and he couldn’t feel his hands.
“Are you okay?” Elvi asked, reaching out tentatively with one hand to find him. “Your respiration sounds funny.”
“Passing out,” Holden said between long breaths. “How long until everyone can see again?”
“We need to get you inside,” Elvi replied, throwing his left arm around her shoulders and guiding him to the door. “I think you’ve been awake for something like four days.”
“It’s okay,” Holden said. “I took a lot of speed. How long?”
Elvi stopped, throwing her other arm around his waist to hold him up. It was both a relief and, if he were being honest, a little unflattering how quickly every bit of sexual tension had been drained from their interactions. He was giddy and sleep-deprived enough he almost asked her what had changed. Fortunately, she spoke first.
“So, that means soon?”
Elvi got him in the doorway and over to a pile of blankets. She gently lowered him until he was lying flat on his back. “Yes, soon I should think. Hours, maybe. Days at the most.”
“How did you know these blankets were here?”
“We laid this out as a sleeping location for you three days ago,” Elvi said with a smile and patted his cheek. “You were just too stubborn to use it.”
“Thank you.”
“We have a small privacy tent too,” she replied, pulling on something by his feet. A thin sleeve of material sprang up and along the length of his body, completely covering him.
“Thank you,” Holden said again, his eyes closing against his will. He could already feel the impending sleep as a tingling in his extremities. “Wake me up in about a year. Oh, and make sure Murtry doesn’t kill me until then.”
“Why would he do that?” Elvi asked.
“We’re kind of at war,” Holden said. Unconsciousness washed into him, sleep pulling him down into the endless void.
“So,” a voice said right next to his ear, “we really need to get a move on.”
“Miller,” Holden said, not opening his eyes, “if you make me get up, I swear I will find a way to murder you.”
Holden forced his eyes open and looked to his side. Miller was inside the tent with him, but also too large to be in the tent with him. The overlapping images sent a spike of pain through his head so he closed them again. “Where are we going?”
“Got a train to catch. Find the back room with the weird pillar in the middle. You guys are using the space for storage. I’ll meet you there.”
“I hate you so, so much,” Holden said, but there was no reply. He risked opening one eye, and saw Miller was gone. When he opened the tent, Elvi was sitting next to it looking worried.
“Who were you talking to?”
“Ghost of Christmas past,” Holden said, forcing himself to sit up. “Where’s Amos?”
“He’s been spending a lot of time with Wei. I think they’re both in the next room.”
“Help me up,” Holden said, holding out one arm. Elvi climbed to her feet and pulled on it, and he somehow managed to stand without falling over. “My heart is racing. It’s not supposed to do that.”
“You’re full of fatigue toxins and amphetamines. I’m not surprised you’re having hallucinations.”
“My hallucinations are of the alien mind control variety,” Holden said, and took a few unsteady steps toward the next room.
“Can you hear what you’re saying?” Elvi asked, coming with him and keeping one hand under his elbow. “You’re really starting to worry me.”
Holden turned, straightened up, and took one long breath. Then he removed Elvi’s hand from his arm and said in as steady a voice as he could manage, “I need to go somewhere and turn off the defense network so our friends don’t fall out of space and die. I need you to go back to work on the sight problem. Thank you for your help.”