"No," Alona said, nodding.
Naima finally stood, holding the blanket around her shoulders. For a whole week, she'd resisted the urge to act like a sickly child, burying herself into whatever offered her warmth and comfort. Now that Braen knew and the android could, apparently, tell on its own, there was no reason to hide.
"Tell us," Naima said calmly. "The truth is always better than guessing. I bet I can conjure up a worse scenario in my head if you keep me waiting."
"I should run more tests," Alona tried, but Naima wasn't about to let the AI get away so easily.
"Your guess is good enough for us," Naima assured it. "Right?"
The general nodded grimly, hands crossed over his wide chest, looking every bit as threatening as he was rumored to be. For a second, Naima feared for Alona's safety, but in her heart she knew Braen would never hurt her like that, to kill her only friend.
"Very well," Alona said. "Over the past days, I've sensed that Miss Jones' health is quickly deteriorating."
"We know that," Braen cut in. "The paladin wrote to me, saying Audrey Price is ill as well. It's the Fearless, like I've told my gesha. The time is almost up. It's trying to hurt her as much as possible to punish me."
"What?" Naima burst out, turning to the general. "Why didn't you tell me Audrey was going through the same thing?"
"I didn't want to add another burden to the pain you carry already," Braen said simply, his voice level. "Tieran wrote to me out of concern. I don't think he's told Audrey either. Both of you need to rest and be strong now. I need you to know that it's nothing we can't fix.
“After I kill the Fearless, you will be better. Do you agree?"
With the last sentence, the general turned to Alona, who gave him a small nod. Naima's heart was racing in the meanwhile, finally getting the confirmation that she truly was experiencing another attack by the Fearless. One that was much longer and sneakier than the previous one, bypassing even the glove to an extent.
The glove didn't hold it off as much as she would have liked. There was something utterly terrifying about that. Palians had warned them it was nothing more than a quickly fixed prototype, but she'd hoped they had more time before the defenses failed. Now she felt exposed again, like the Fearless was free to ravage her mind anytime it pleased.
"I think so, yes," Alona was saying. "Everyone is connected in this. If you say the other Terran female is experiencing the same, we can safely assume it is the enemy. With its death, I believe they will both be fine again, but that is not my concern."
"Then what is?" Braen asked, a hint of impatience in his voice.
"What happens if you fail, commander?" the android said.
Naima was expecting Braen to cut Alona's head off so much she nearly missed the implications of the AI's words. Right on cue, the general growled at Alona. The android wasn't going to back down.
"With respect, General, we have to consider that as a viable possibility," Alona repeated with conviction. "If it comforts you, I think you have a better chance than anyone else in the galaxy. You know the Fearless, you've fought it before.
“Armed with this weapon, you stand a good chance, yet it's not a certainty. Please understand. I am not programmed to rule out options. Will you let me continue? This is important."
Braen bristled. Naima reached out her hand from under her blanket and hooked it around his arm. At once, the general's attention shifted to her and the look in his eyes became loving and warm, the strain slowly dissipating. Concerned, too.
"I need to hear this," Naima whispered.
The general clearly didn't, considering how he had resisted admitting the possible outcome from the very start, but he relented for her sake. With a curt nod, he gave permission to Alona to go on.
"Miss Jones is under attack from the Fearless," the android began. "She has been for a while now and the glove is not able to shield her from all of it. At our current speed, I am confident we can reach the enemy before it breaks through again.#p#分页标题#e#
“I am not saying this to depress you, Miss Jones, but I don't think I will be able to save you this time. We are so much closer to the source and it is very powerful."
"Understood," Naima said, trying to sound braver than she felt. "Go on. What does that mean for me?"
"It means–" Alona said, trailing off before starting again. "It means I think you're dying. Your body is not able to resist the Fearless much longer. Right now, it can't physically hurt you. It can only channel some of it to you.
“The cold, the doubt. They're not powerful enough to kill you with one strike, but they're slowly eroding you away. The speed of it is worrying. You have a week, maybe more."
A week.
Braen's arms closed around her before Naima could fall, her knees going weak as she desperately tried to remember how many days there were in a week. Short, short days to spend with the man she loved, the threat of freezing to death hanging above her head every second of the way.
This wasn't how I thought it would end.
Worst of all, her death would mean the death of her child as well. It was far too early in the pregnancy to give the child any chance of survival, even considering modern medicine.
"It's possible I can slow it down some more–" Alona went on, but the general stopped her.
"That's enough," he ordered with such force the android quieted like it had forgotten how to speak. "Nothing will happen to you, Naima. We will be there long before a week is done and the Fearless will die by my hand."
She nodded mutely, still counting days. All of a sudden, the long years of her life seemed wasted. Even the weeks she'd spent fighting with Braen haunted her now. In her dreams, Naima had imagined they had a whole lifetime to spend together.
Lazy, happy mornings together, waking up to cuddle into the general's arms and let him kiss her slowly and teasingly. Nights filled with passion, screaming his name to the stars. Days of joy and wonder, discovering how good it actually was to love and be loved without reservations. Playing with their child and teaching him or her everything both Naima and Braen loved.
"This is what I meant by saying possibility," Alona said, showing either a strong resolve or a very uncharacteristic desire to die.
Funny, the more I get to know it, the more I think of Alona being destroyed as "dying".
"I only want you to understand that the cost of losing is terrible, General," the android stated. "Even if you are wounded, you can't hope for a rematch. If the Fearless escapes, there is no time to pursue. If you fail, commander, you will not get a second chance. Not for Naima."
In the silence that followed, Alona wisely took its leave, making sure to pass by the general quickly. Braen had come to tolerate it, but to Naima's eyes, he looked ready to murder the messenger.
She waited for him to say anything. For once it seemed that Braen was speechless. For all her attempts to stop the general from living in a future he hadn't achieved yet, it was the eeriest part of the whole mess for her. Especially when Braen pulled her into his arms, still silent.
"Tell me," she asked, whispering. "Promise me."
The general's arms around her tightened, making Naima feel warm for the first time that day, wrapped into the heat of the blanket and the embrace.
"I promise. I will claim this victory for both of us, because there is no more me without you."
Naima nodded, wrapping her hands around Braen's chest, or at least as far as her hands could reach.
"And no me without you," she replied.
They stayed like that for a long time, the happiness of the workshop long forgotten. There were no more words, no hurried sex or forced conversations.
If those were to be her final days with Braen, Naima couldn't think of a better way to spend them than in his arms. He was right beside her and she was intent to keep the general there until the final battle began.
Braen had been right, in the end. She'd set out to save the galaxy, but on the way, it had turned into a personal battle. Above everything else, Naima wanted the general to return to her and their baby.
The stakes had been high before, but now her life literally depended upon the outcome.
It was her or the Fearless. And there was no time to waste.
32
Braen
His gesha was dying.
The immensity of that hurt more deeply than any physical pain ever could. In his life, through all his many battles, the general had been wounded his fair share of times. Brions didn't look for easy opponents or wars that were won by default, simply because they stepped on the field. The only way to truly test a warrior's might was to match him against an enemy that was strong and capable.#p#分页标题#e#
Braen had had his ribs broken, his lungs collapsed, his skull cracked and nearly smashed in. The Fearless itself had started to digest him, for one. Brions healed fast, but the whole way back to Briolina, he'd been as good as useless. It was a very odd feeling for a Brion, who were always striving to be at their top form.
He knew pain intimately.
Alona's words cut like a rusted blade, salt in a torn wound.
He was a warrior. In battle, the value of a good strike was gaining an advantage over the enemy. The prize of every action was winning. Now everything had changed.