The Black Garden: Chapter 5

Happy New Year! If you're enjoying the story so far, please like and leave a comment! It IS the holidays, but I admit I'm a bit apprehensive about the lack of feedback - J.B
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I roused into clear white light, and the sensation of floating. For a timeless space, I wondered if Tsariel had siked me and I was, in fact, dead. Dead and waiting in some transdimensional lobby on my way to Gay Slut Heaven.

Sensation faded back in as my sense of time slowly expanded like an elastic band. I cracked my eyes open, and looked up into the smooth, glass-laminated face of a familiar Palae'an nurse.

"Welcome back, Doctor!" Sorini chirped. A happy emoji-like expression projected across her shell's blank visor, lighting it up with countless diodes. Two of her articulated arms worked to adjust my drip, while the two smaller ones carried a tray with a small paper cup of water, and a small dish of pudding. "I saw your vitals pick up. How are you feeling?"

"Always glad to wake up to a beautiful face." I smiled at her, and reached up to pat the side of my face where the Violator's acid had hit. My cheek was whole and smooth, though the new tissue and skin were still both sensitive. The neuropathy would settle down over the next few days.

"Shameless man." Sorini tittered. The floating corona behind her head whirled slowly, and the zero-gravity bed began to morph and shift, repositioning me so that I was sitting up against a cushion of air. " The hospital node is blowing up with the news, you know. Our very own Doctor Seung, heroically soloing a Cat-2! You're the first human to ever do that and survive."

"Come on, it wasn't that big a deal." I flushed, turning my head away. "Just doing my job."

"You and your team accomplished an incredible feat. I think the Fleet Nexus will have to give more kudos to human hunters after this." Sorini set the tray down beside the bed, and lifted the cup to my lips with one delicate robotic hand. "Here. Just wet your lips."

My mouth was parched. I tried to listen to her, but found myself swallowing as fast as I could get it down. She didn't stop me, and once I was done, she wordlessly switched out for the pudding and offered a spoonful of it to my mouth.

"How long have I been out?" Resigned to being babied, I let her feed it to me.

"Not long. We kept you induced forty-eight hours to ensure the tissue grafts had taken."

"Solid treatment plan. Are we still transiting?"

"No, you're back home. You were evacuated onto the Fetch Quest, and they dived back to JBT."

"What's the date?"

Sorini tilted her head, her face displaying the local date and time across the front even as she spoke. "It’s the 4th of Tashritu, approximately 1830 hours station time."

I grunted and swallowed. The pudding was made with some kind of plant milk: bland, faintly vanilla flavored, mildly sweet and perfectly delicious. We had left on Tash 4th, so the Fetch Quest had taken us back in time a couple days so there was no loss of continuity. ‘JBT’ was Jump Base Tiamat, an Abyssal Response Fleet station in orbit around the planet Mareka in the Tamtu system. My corps within the A.R.F, CEIDR, docked their branchships and starships there. It was also the home of the military hospital where I volunteered.

"Can you send me the injury report and treatment plan?" I asked, once the pudding was gone. "Just out of morbid curiosity."

"Of course, I’ll ask the attending. But please let us take care of YOU for a change, doctor." Sorini's shell flashed a styled cartoon expression of mingled sternness and concern. "I know humans have the instinct to hide when injured, but we are here to help you."

"Thanks, but uh… you’re thinking of cats. Don't worry, Sorini: I'll be a good boy." I smiled wanly at her. "Especially if you can handfeed me more of that pudding."

"Don't push your luck." Sorini 's mask screen morphed into a girl’s face, pulling her mouth to the side wagging her tongue. I chuckled as she padded out, her compact quadrupedal body whirring softly on each quiet footfall. To my surprised, she paused in the doorway and craned her head back. "Oh! The rest of the Roaches are out in the waiting room. Should I let them in?"

"Yeah, sure." I closed my eyes and settled back, grateful to be comfortable. The Earth 334-99-7B operation was a blur of violence and pain. I'd gone in knowing I was putting my body on the line, but not quite to this extent.

"Got it!" Sorini gave me an 'ok' sign with one of her hands, and left me in the humming silence of the room. Only once she was gone did I let myself grimace, already plotting the ways I could get them to release me early so I could get coffee and a smoke. I was about to test my legs when the door chimed, turning clear from about waist height up to show me the small crowd of people on the other side. Gaius had his face smeared up against the glass, peering at me with one beady blue eye. He had a giant red teddy bear, which he was using to wave at me Blackie had crouched so I could see him just over the edge of the frosted border.

I sighed, and sunk back into the bed. "Come in."

My squad piled in through the door. Gaius strode in ahead of the others, and unceremoniously dumped the bear on top of me. He was easily one of the largest men on the station: seven and a half feet tall and three hundred pounds of solid corn-fed Canadian muscle. His earth, Earth Instance 337-59-9R, had two major deviations compared to my own: the composition of the atmosphere was slightly different, giving the sky a green tint instead of a blue one, and everyone was roughly a foot taller and fifty pounds more massive than a typical human. Men generally ranged between seven and eight feet, while women averaged six and a half. That had caused all kinds of wild deviations in the timeline, but his corner of rural Ontario had been pretty much the same.

"There's my little murder-twink!" He boomed, striding over to my bedside. He leaned down to pinch my cheek, waggling my head from side to side. "Mister Bigshot demon hunter. How are you feeling, eh?"

"Fine," I replied sourly. "Nice to see you too, Gaius."

Behind him were my other teammates. Ratcatcher, tall, dark and somber, clutched a single 'Get Well Min-joon' balloon in the shape of a sunflower. She said nothing as she drifted over and tied it to the rail of the bed, meeting and holding my gaze with her deep, fathomless black eyes. That was the closet Ratty ever got to a smile. Lilia, Digger and Blackie filtered in after her. Lilia did smile, fluttering over to the bed to lean down and plant kisses against my cheeks.

" Alhamdulillah, it is good to see you alive and well," she said. Her voice was deep and warm, like silk with a core of iron. She was a handsome Iranian woman, full-bodied and elegant. "At least, that is how I feel as a person. As your commander, I will rip you a new asshole as soon as you're on your feet."

"Ma'am." I saluted. “Gaius: when you get back to bunk, please prepare the lube and tunnel borer.”

"Give him a break. The fuckin' Violator already did that." Blackie drawled. He was already drinking, swigging beer from a dark brown bottle. He was not, in fact, black. He was a clone whose pale blonde hair, hard-boned face, and ice-blue eyes were identical to Digger's. "Not his bloody fault SEER screwed the pooch."

"That is the general opinion in the CEIDR Nexus," Lilia agreed. "Do not worry, Z. I am mostly joking."

“Mostly,” I echoed.

Both Blackie and Digger were clones from the same universe, mass-produced by the feudal post-human empire that had ruled a large chunk of the Milky Way in that timeline. Digger was short, burly and heavily muscled, while Blackie was medium-height, rangy and sinewy, but they otherwise looked the same. They also shared the same charming Australian accents. But while Blackie hung back with a calm, reptilian air, Digger bustled with nervous energy.

“The Corps elected that we file a complaint with AbyssNex,” he said. “Everyone’s pissed. The Confluence has seven hundred years of data on these bastards, and the first time SEER buggers a mission brief, it happens to be a human’s life on the line.”

“And we all know what the Taga Avaya think of CEIDR.” Ratty finally spoke up in her smooth, hollow, oddly distant voice. Like Lilia, she had an accent – in her case, from the Levant.

“Woah, hang on.” I held my hands up. “I appreciate the concern, but SEER isn’t perfect and there’s always one lucky person who has to draw the lottery. Let’s wait and see what the nerds have to say before we go leaping to conclusions.”

“I agree. A lot of people remembering Karkinos 55 right now though.” Gaius lay a hand on my shoulder, engulfing it. “The Taga’s attitude toward CEIDR doesn’t help with those memories.”

“No, but like I said… let’s not jump to any conclusions. There’s all kinds of factors we don’t know about yet.” I looked up at him. “By the way, Gaius. Sweetie. Darling…”

The huge man looked down at me. “Yes, sugarpuff?”

I gazed at him like a puppy.

“No,” he said. “No, I’m not giving you a cigarette.”

I pouted. He grinned, baring twin rows of sharpened, shark-like teeth.

“No smokes until discharge, Z. But I did save your lighter and case.” Lulia held it up: a silver knockoff zippo that had seen better days, it had the squad’s unofficial mascot etched onto one side – a poorly drawn, cartoonish cockroach. “The case is at your home already.”

“Ahh! Thank you!” I reached out for it, making little grabby hands until it was passed over to Gaius. Who held it up and dangled it just out of reach.

He leered down at me. “What’cha gonna give me for it?”

“Five hours of incredibly uncomfortable priapism, if you don’t give me my fucking lighter.”

“Tsch.” He dropped it onto my lap. I batted my eyelashes at him.

Ratcatcher flashed me an odd little smile. “Min-joon. Do it anyway.”

“You shut your pie-hole.” Gaius scowled over at her. “Bet you couldn’t last five hours.”

She cocked a thick, well-groomed eyebrow, otherwise expressionless. “You want a competition? We can take Viagra. I will win.”

“Only because my cock’s bigger than yours.”

“No. Because women are superior at tolerating pain.”

Blackie toasted her with his empty bottle, and belched loudly. “My money’s on Ratty.”

“Aaand that’s my cue. Good luck, mate. I hope you heal fast and well.” Digger cleared his throat and turned for the door.

“And I must also leave you lovebirds to your business. I must continue advocating on what has happened. We need answers for you, Z. I am angry AbyssNex made me send one of my best men into this situation alone.” Lulia bowed her head to us in turn, and flashed Blackie a warning glance on her way past him. He returned the look with utmost innocence, and I immediately felt my hopes rise.

“Lovebirds? Zealot here isn’t in any fit state to be loving anything right now. Nothing but skin and bones.” Gaius laughed, absently rubbing my shoulder. There was a touch of possessiveness in the way he was gripping it, massaging the atrophied muscles with the ball of his thumb. “That’s what the bear is for, by the way. I know you like to have something lying on top of you.”

I glared at him and hugged the bear to my chest. “Excuse me? Mr Bear here is a bottom, thank you very much.”

“Then I guess you can cuddle and whimper together.”

Ratcatcher snorted.

“I hate you.” I leaned back with a sigh, enjoying the attention massage. Gaius had good hands, each one big enough to palm my entire face. “But yeah, no, I’m not going to be hot to trot for a few days yet.”

“We know. I’m just messing with you. Making sure nothing up here’s broken.” Gaius tapped the side of my head with one sausage-sized finger. “I wasn’t sure you were gonna make it back there, Z. I hear you when you say we shouldn’t be leaping down people’s necks, but I knew something was weird about that fucking demon.”

“We still do not know what it’s objective truly was. It must have had some knowledge of our S.O.Ps. If so, it expected a lone operative,” Ratcatcher added. “The analysis is still ongoing. I understand the tension in the corps, but I also believe that we have not seen anything like this before.”

“Demons might be evolving,” Blackie drawled.

“All of a sudden, after all this time?” I grimaced. “I don’t like it.”

“No one does, but the Fleet’s already put together a working group from all the Nexuses,” Blackie said. “So if nothin’ else, they’re taking it seriously.”

I sighed and groaned. My stomach was getting progressively less comfortable as my body began to gnaw at me for food. “Alright, well… I’m fine. Other than the plus-sized demon, nothing happened that I’m not trained for. Thanks for looking out for me.”

“Always. You’re our lil buddy.” Gaius went to ruffle my hair. I reached up and grabbed his wrist.

“Do. Not.” I peered up at him.

He flashed me a huge, shit-eating grin. And when I let go, the bastard patted me on the head, gently, like a little kid.

“Michael says hi to Tsariel,” he said. “But she probably already knew that.”

“Probably. Tell him ‘thanks for the assist’. And also for not skewering me like a shish-kabob.” I pushed at his forearm, which was about as effective as trying to push a wall. “Go on, git.”

“I will return this evening after chow,” Ratcatcher said. “We kept shifts watching over you during most of the days.”

That actually bought a blush to my face. “No, it’s fine. None of you need to-”

She blinked, once. “We have agreed to take shifts.”

“Ugh.” I flopped dramatically back into the pillows. “I’m not made of glass.”

Gaius dropped his voice to an intense whisper. “Let me love you.”

“We are all reminded from your near miss that we are all made of flesh, and mortal.” Ratcatcher paused awkwardly, never changing tone. “…I hope you like the balloon.”

I glanced up at it, then looked back to her with a gentle smile. “I love it, Ratty. Thank you. And for the bear, though uh… not sure what I’m gonna do with that.”

“Well I got it ‘cause I know you hate being a patient,” Gaius said. “So I dunno… cuddle up with it, hump it, think of me and Ratty, eh? We’re about to play rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets your ass first once you’re better. Except she’s a damn cheat, what with her luck bullshit.”

“Rock, paper, scissors is not a game of chance. Do not be a sore loser.” Ratcatcher gave me a meaningful glance as she turned to leave. Gaius possibly wasn’t lying about the rock-paper-scissors thing.

“You know I need to sleep to put weight back on, right?” I stuck my tongue out at both of them.

“Yeah, yeah.” Kaus let go of my shoulder. “So you’d better get some sleep. And for the love of the Lord, eat. Losing that plump little butt of yours would be a crime against humanity.”

“I always feel so valued when you’re around, Gaius,” I said. “You really know how to make a guy feel like an object.”

“You should. Do you know how much I could make off that ass on the right trucking route back home?” The big man’s mouth drew into a sly grin. “Seriously though, I hope you get some sleep. That mission was too damn close.”

Blackie held the door for him as he ambled out, making as if he was going to follow, then doubling back. He sidled up the bed and caught my hand. Both my eyebrows lifted as he palmed two small objects into it.

“Nicotine patch and an e-cig,” he muttered. “Don’t let the nurses see ‘em.”

I sighed with anticipatory relief. “I could kiss you.”

“Save it.” Blackie had come a long way from his roots, but when he tried to smile, it never quite reached his eyes. Sarcasm was about as good as he could manage. “By the way, bit of news. I heard the Commander’s on his way to JBT. Seems like there’s something he wants to speak with you about.”

“The Commander? In person?” That got me sitting up a little straighter.

“Yeah. Dunno if he’ll bother you until the doctors say you’re good to go, but if you’ve got the energy for it, you might wanna think about what you’re gonna say. Probably wants to know what really happened down there.”

My stomach clenched for a different reason. I forced the muscles of my back to relax, and eased back down. “Right. Well… realistically, I was an idiot. I shouldn’t have stayed near the entry to the demon’s lair as long as I did.”

“Don’t need to explain yourself to me, mate. First time a Violator’s ever had enough brains to trick an AI whose entire reason for existing is to predict what demons do.” Blackie regarded me levelly. “Anyway. Good thing you made it. Searching for another healer as good as you are would be a right pain in our arses.”

I grinned. “I love you too, Blackie.”

“Sure.” He sniffed, and swaggered off to follow Gaius, lifting a hand to wave behind him. “Take it easy, Z.”

And just like that, I was alone again. I slapped the nicotine patch on, and with a furtive glance at the re-frosted door, ducked under my blankets to take a few greedy draws on the e-cig. It wasn’t as good as the real thing, but it was nicotine – an addiction I could in theory quit at any moment with a little Biomancy. Everyone had to have one vice, right?

Next Chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/black-garden-6-119161305