Goshan? Did Barbarian mean the pilot? Did he not know the pilot was dead? Lily licked her lips.

"That ship crashed in my backyard and the pilot pulled me inside."

"And Goshan?" Barbarian's voice piped into her ears like a transmission from an old radio. He skirted to the foot of the table. Muscular arms veed over Lily's legs. Gripping the table's sides, he leaned in and brought their faces close.

Lily gulped. "G−Goshan?"

"The pilot who pulled you aboard." Barbarian over enunciated each word. "Tell me what happened to him."

Shit. Goshan was the pilot.

"Ah." Whenever Lily spoke the implant in her throat vibrated. The sensation made her swallow and cough a lot. "I tried to...fix him."

A massive hand enveloped her throat. Barbarian squeezed.

"What do you mean fix him?"

"He disintegrated and I tried using that sphere thing." Lily flapped her hand at Key Woman who had the device clipped to her utility belt. "It didn't work."

Barbarian's hand constricted. Thready cries wheezed from Lily's mouth.

"Who ordered the hit? Tell me who you work for and I will kill them instead of you."

Nothing but gasps came out when Lily's lips moved.

"Captain." The cat stepped to Barbarian's side. "The Utori we have in the belly...Goshan was with him long enough for a transmission of ash mites. Desiccated material present in the MSac fluid samples I extracted from the fledgling and from Goshan's barrier suit suggests—"

"I know what it means." The captain sneered at the cat then he rounded on Lily. "This one," his hand tightened again and her lips went tingly, "could be his carrier."

A golden hand alighted on the captain's outstretched arm.

"If you kill her there will be no answers," the cat said.

After a beat, the captain released Lily. She heaved. Feeling returned to her face. The captain seated himself on the table's ledge. A hand wiped over his face then he rubbed his chin with his thumb while he studied her.

"Tell me who hired you."

Lily shrugged then said, "T.J. Maxx once, but that was only part time last year. I don't work for anyone now and I've never worked for anyone who'd want anyone killed."

The captain shot Key Woman a look. The alien woman's shoulders went up and down. A flick of the captain's hand indicated the sphere at her belt. She tossed it to him and he held it in front of Lily's face.

"And this?" He asked.

"I told you. I tried to use it to fix your pilot."

"How exactly would stealing classified information, property of the Verakian Initiary, fix Goshan?"

"I didn't steal anything!"

Key Woman piped up. "You opened the storage globe. It's empty."

"Not on purpose." Lily rolled her eyes. "Well, yeah, on purpose but accidentally."

Key Woman's brow hooked up. Lily continued.

"I thought it was a medi-sphere or something because he kept pushing it at me like he wanted me to take it. The only reason it opened at all is because the needle on top of it jabbed me."

"And then?" The captain leaned in. She shrank at the intensity of his stare then turned away.

"Then nothing. Random images and sounds and feelings."

The captain and Key Woman faced each other.

"Neural implantation," Key Woman said under her breath. "Did the data root in her?"

The captain shoved off the table. "How?" Lips moved around clenched teeth. "How could she?"

The cat spoke up. "Are you Bralian, Lily?" A lilting whisper of a voice replaced their, his, whalesong. With a small bowl and cloth in his hands, he returned to her side and undid her chest strap, leaving her legs bound.

The captain's left eye twitched. "What would you know about that, Pashmi?"

Daubing the cloth into the bowl, the cat wiped Lily's cheeks and forehead. "I am ignorant of the details of your voyage, captain, however, I recognize a Bralian artifact when I see it. Verakian and Utori political tensions are also not unknown to me. Neither are the methods your ruling bodies employ to gain power over the other."

"I bet," the captain said.

Whatever the cat spread on Lily's face exploded over her skin in a Pop Rocks burst. Cold tingling cleansed her of the dried discharge and left her refreshed and feeling shiny.

"What's Bralian?" She asked.

"A species," the cat said.

"An extinct species," the captain clarified. "The Verakian," he pounded his chest, "are the last of that line."

"And the Blended Utori?" The cat asked.

"All claiming the name Utori are murderers, war criminals, rapists and slave masters, nothing more."

Before further argument broke out, Lily said, "I'm human. I've never heard of Bralian or any of that other stuff."

"But the DNA lock on—"

Two raised fingers from the captain silenced Key Woman. To the cat he said, "Put her back in the belly."

The bowl the cat held clanked hard on the table. "Captain, her injuries need better treatment than I've given. This human likely had naught to do with Goshan's death. Processing results from the MSac fluid will produce traces of ash mite husks. Of that I am certain."

Standing, the captain said, "Did the labor contract your Intercessor drew up for me include your expertise at maintaining order on my ship?"

The cat's upper lip fluttered, revealing the pointed tips of his teeth. "No."

"I didn't recall purchasing that service either. Take her samples. Do a body scan. I want a full report on her biology for the species matrix. Run the carrier test as well. Until I see those results, she stays in the belly."

With a wave to Key Woman, the Verakian pair exited the medical suite.

After replacing the bowl and cloth on the portable tray, the cat worked at Lily's leg bonds. Golden hands undid the buckles fastening the leather straps. Once freed, she stretched and rubbed the red marks and indentations the straps grooved in her skin. Hard little scabs dotted her arms and legs. The ship's tentacles left those behind. She scratched at her forearm and flicked away the crusties. Scarlet fluid welled where she picked. Hooking a finger under her palm, the cat tugged away her hand.

"Stop that." He had another damp cloth. With it, he bathed her limbs. Fluid soaking the cloth fizzed and burned. Lily grunted and wormed around.

"Disinfectant," the cat said then peered at the larger wounds on her chest. "Never mind the captain. These need immediate treatment." He probed her inflamed skin. "How do you feel? Any irregular symptoms?"

"I'm tired. I don't feel sick-sick." She touched her aching temples. Pain laced her skull. She hadn't felt that when−

"Before," Lily said, "when you touched my face, did you do something to my mind?"

"I did." The cat continued his probing. Lily grimaced at the sting it caused.

"Are you telepathic?"

Pain intensified when the cat pressed harder. Gritting her teeth, Lily squirmed until the breeze in her mind returned. Pain lessened. She looked at the cat while he cleaned and dressed her gashes.

"I am sensitive. Telepathic isn't the correct term. For someone projecting as strongly as you project, I sense emotions, sometimes pictures. And for someone as...open as you are I'm able to project some of my influence."

"I'm open?"

"Very." The cat applied a clean bandage to her wounds. "You possess little to no mental barriers. Someone with ability and intent could easily exploit you."

"Another cat? Are all cats out here sensitive?"

Ears flattened and the cat's tail slashed the air. "Cats are animals. I am not an animal. I am Pashmi and Pashmi were among the first sentients."

A flush prickled Lily's cheeks and crept down her neck and back. She shifted on the table and mumbled, "sorry," and rooted her attention to the gleaming hands patching her chest. "When the captain called you 'Pashmi' I thought it was a curse or something."

The Pashmi breathed out a derisive chuckle. "At times, it does feel that way. My name is Rada Lorent Sycose Puu. You may call me Rada. Puu is also acceptable given our mental connection."

Puu. That rang true.

"Doctor Puu," Lily said then cringed. "You are a doctor aren't you?"

"I am the contracted physician of this manta's recility ward for the next Verakian standard succession unless the captain buys out my time. I have the documentation if you wish to peruse it."

"Um, OK."

Finished with his bandaging, doctor Puu set his tools on the tray and wheeled the station to one of the standing cabinets at the ward's west end. Soiled cloths he tossed in a bright plastic canister. Surgical instruments dropped into a cylindrical machine atop the long workstation at the back of the room. Adjusting the machine's settings, he waved a hand before a holographic interface which oscillated from blue to red as the cylinder whirred. From the cabinet, he removed a fat, cord bound file and a plastic frame, like the one Lily threw at the captain's face. The doctor set both on the tray and set a hand on the file.

"All the relevant papers as well as my contract history and evaluations are contained within. They will be easier for you to read on the slate."

Lifting the plastic frame, doctor Puu touched a button near its top right corner. Light and graphics filled the square of empty space. A touch to one of the graphics sent the text cascading. He handed that to Lily with the file. She ran a finger over the slate. The intangible screen responded to her touch. A fingertip's swipe scrolled further into the documentation.

"This is amazing," she whispered.

Doctor Puu snorted. "Hardly. That's one of Cera-Soar's older slate models. A basic HOptic tile. Voxics with haptic feedback. Quite standard."

Wow, Lily marveled. This is the shitty tech.

Tabbing along the document produced paragraph upon paragraph of unfamiliar symbols. Lips twisted as the doctor lifted her arm.

"I shall take a small amount of your blood and a skin sample for the carrier test."

Lily braced herself for the needle's pinching jab. He swabbed the puncture site with disinfectant and brushed it with clear sealant when he finished.

"You're the one who fixed my cut." She lifted her stabbed palm at the doctor who sniffed at the injury.

"It was an angry wound. The captain permitted cursory treatment after we extracted you from the fledgling." Fur bristled. "You should have more now but if we tarry the captain will know I've disobeyed. I'll not have a transgression clause on my contract activated."

"Transgression clause?" Lily set down the slate. "I can't read any of this."

The doctor returned to the top of the document and pointed at the first line of text.

"It is known that Rada Lorent Sycose Puu is hence forth assigned to a term of no less than a single succession in the Verakian measure as chief physician, chemist, and surgeon to captain Kurban Vortrand's commercial class manta by his Intercessor, Cimenos Karbin Termal Vich."

Lily's features scrunched. "What's an Intercessor?"

"A Pashmi who works on my behalf to connect me to the Pashpan Continuum after selling me or my services to reputable bidders."

"Does that mean you're a slave?"

"Some Pashmi would consider me so. I do not. I believe I choose my service."

Lily's jaw dropped. All she could do was stare at him while he gathered his implements for the carrier test. His spare movements were graceful as a ballerina's. Blue fur shimmered like peacock feathers under the light of the standing lamps. He held a spiky instrument over her shoulder.

"I'll collect your carrier sample now," he said and brought the scary tool to her skin.

A scrape. Nothing more.

"If you'll come over here," doctor Puu said from a short distance away, "we'll do your scans and get you back to the belly."

Lily jumped from the table. A metal disc raised from the floor next to the doctor. He indicated she should stand on it.

"You will need to strip," he added.

Frowning, Lily tugged her top away from her skin then pulled it over her head.

The remnants of her underwear, her denim shorts and tank top heaped onto the floor. Arms crossed over her chest, she tip toed onto the disc. The metal dais froze the bottoms of her feet. Cool air swirled around her belly and her chest when she lowered her arms. Gooseflesh pimpled her from scalp to sole.

"How long will this take?"

"Not long." The doctor had his back to her. Fingers danced over a HOptic screen. He paused. "May I ask you a question?"

"Sure." Lily did a hoppy dance on the platform to warm herself.

"What was bare interfacing like?"

"I don't know what that is."

"Mantas," he said, gesturing at their surroundings, "are living crafts. Starflight capable organisms."

"You mean this is one big ship we're on? Like a bigger version of the ship that crashed in my backyard?"

"Correct. Those smaller ships are fledglings. The mature version are mantas. In zerospace, mantas sprint wild. They have no mechanical components. Not like this hybrid manta."

MSac fluid, Bralian, Verakian, Utori, Manta, Fledgling. Lily shook her head at all this new vocabulary. Ear implants fed her a rough translation of alien speech. When she heard terms like 'star flight' or 'leather' she knew those weren't the words uttered, but the closest comparable words she understood. Words like 'Utori,' that had no English approximation, cobbled together phonetically. Despite her confusion, doctor Puu went on.

"Before the Verakian Revolt when the Verakian were a slave race, there was a large colony on Danavan Sec dedicated to hunting wild mantas and adapting them for boarded space travel. Fledglings equipped with organic flight technology birth from these hybrid ships. To pilot a fledgling, a neurological bond and a number of nerve connections must be established. The pilot you encountered wore a suit, correct?"

"Yeah. I thought it was his skin until he..." Lily dropped her head and stared at her feet.

"The barriersuit cushions those requisite nerve connections. It prevents these sorts of injuries." He indicated her scabbed arms and legs and her chest. "The suit also guards against mental instability and neural erosion in pilots."

"You mean if I would have worn that suit those tentacle things—"

"Flagettes," the doctor corrected.

"The flagettes would have connected with the suit instead of my body?"

"Precisely. Piloting a fledgling without a barriersuit demands a high level of skill and mental control." He cocked his head at her. "How did you manage without?"

"I didn't manage. There were lights in my eyes and fire in my veins then I couldn't see. I don't remember much. Only that I wanted to go home."

Doctor Puu faced her. "And the fledgling returned to its parentship. Interesting." With a nod, he said, "Stand still. Keep your hands to your sides."

Hands clapped against Lily's hips. A dome of violet light encased her. She held her breath. No sensation accompanied the scan. Once the light retracted into the dais, she breathed again.

"You may dress." Doctor Puu's HOptic screen absorbed his attention.

Lily pulled on her clothes. "The captain and that woman are Verakian?" That's what the captain said. That the Verakian were the last of the Bralian line.

"They are." The doctor didn't turn away from his screen.

"And the Verakian people captured mantas when they were slaves?"

"Correct."

"You said that was before the Verakian Revolt."

"I did."

"Who did they revolt against?"

Doctor Puu glanced at her over his shoulder. "The Utori, of course."