Chapter Twenty-Six

It felt odd to be back in the ship and George felt on guard from the moment that he stepped inside. There was a different feeling within the vessel, almost as though they were actually walking through a different ship, a different space than he had inhabited before crossing the desert to the compound. There was a slight chill in the atmosphere, but he felt it within himself rather than on his skin as he passed through the main section of the ship and started for the infirmary.

He had hesitated to go along with the man who had come to the compound to retrieve him. George didn’t recognize Mhavrych as someone that they had encountered or who was in the compound, but he assured him that he knew Maxim, and mentioned that Ivy asked for him. George had felt an immediate surge of protectiveness when Mhavrych said her name. Though he and Ivy had not had the opportunity to spend much time together since her arrival on Uoria, he still considered her one of his closest friends. He knew that it was often viewed as inappropriate for a scientist to consider his assistant a friend, especially when that assistant was a young, attractive woman, but George had never fallen into that entanglement with Ivy. He could honestly say that he had never even felt a glimmer of attraction toward her or desired anything more of the long hours that they spent alone together in the lab than the professional cooperation that they used to push his research forward. Instead, he admired her for her intelligence and willingness to challenge herself in all that they did, throwing herself completely into any project or offshoot that he presented to her without question. Even when they realized that work that they were doing was a dead end or that they weren’t going to be able to accomplish what they thought they were, she was never discouraged. Instead, she boosted his spirits by reminding him that even a failure in science is an opportunity to learn, and encouraging him to use what he had discovered through his most recent thwarted research to fuel the next exploration.

Their time in the lab together had allowed him to learn about her and he had come to appreciate having her there to listen to him when he needed to talk. It was a relationship that was meaningful, but one that had been threatened severely by their separate journeys to Uoria. He hadn’t anticipated her going to the distant planet with him to work on the biological research projects that he had planned. She had told him that she wouldn’t be able to attend with him and George admitted that he had been angry with her for being so willing to give up the opportunity that the trip offered. This was a chance for her to see, experience, and learn things that she never would have if she remained on Earth, and for them to build on their knowledge and create new projects and experiments. That anger, though, had only been increased when she had shown up, unexpected and unannounced. Her sudden appearance had created tension in the relationship with the Denynso but also hurt Zsilvia.

He already knew by the time that Ivy arrived that he was falling in love with the Denynso woman, but she hadn’t yet come to terms with her feelings for him. Ivy’s intrusive arrival had not only shown that she had an impetuous, somewhat arrogant streak that he hadn’t seen before, but had also alienated Zsilvia from him, sparking within her the uncertainties and discomfort that nearly prevented them from ever being together.

In the time that had passed since that difficult time in the Denynso compound, Ivy and Zsilvia had gotten to know each other and were beginning to consider one another friends. It was a relief to see his mate feel comfortable around Ivy and to know that he could resume the alliance with Ivy without risking hurting Zsilvia in any way. Though he relied far more heavily on Zsilvia for companionship and support, no longer feeling as though Ivy was the only person in his world who he could trust, he liked knowing that his work was no longer being held back and that he could feel confident knowing that he had someone familiar with him now that he had made the decision that he would not be returning to Earth.

This had made it so that hearing that she needed him brought George into immediate action, even though he didn’t know Mhavrych or how he could be connected to Ivy. Zsilvia had encouraged him to go, reassuring him that she would be fine in the compound for a short time without him. George didn’t like the thought of them being apart. Ever since they had gotten out of the laboratory in the University, he had gone to great lengths to make sure that they were close to each other as much as possible. Being together meant he knew that she was safe and he could do whatever he could to protect her. If they were apart, even if it was only for a short time, he would question every moment if she was safe or if she was facing the same type of unexpected danger that they had encountered when they were in the University lab before Samira and Ty’s wedding.

Getting to the ship had been far faster than George had anticipated. He had prepared for another crossing like the one that they had undertaken when they first headed to the compound, but instead, Mhavrych had led him down into a quarry and then through tunnels that brought them out into another section of the desert. Before he could even fully process what was happening, they had arrived at the ship. Now he was hurrying toward the infirmary that had until less than two days before housed the wounded people they had brought out of the University, thinking the worst.

When he stepped through the door of the infirmary he immediately saw Ivy sitting on one of the beds. She looked tired, but not injured or ill, and he felt a sense of relief come over him. She looked up and smiled when she saw him standing at the door.

“George!” she said.

Without paying attention to any of the others in the room, he rushed toward her and gathered her in an embrace.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Mhavrych said that you needed me.”

“I’m alright,” she reassured him. “I just had my baby.”

“I’m so happy for you,” he said, hugging her again, but then pushing back so that he could look at her. “But I don’t understand. Why are you here? How did you get here? And why did you send him to get me?”

“It’s not about the baby,” Ivy said. “You know Rilex and Severine.”

“Yes,” George said. “They were on the ship with me and have been in the compound.”

Ivy nodded.

“They found a body.”

“A body?”

“It’s skeletonized and looks like it’s been there for many years.”

“Where did they find it?” George asked, wondering if this was another casualty of the war that they were fighting now but knew had been simmering just below the surface for far longer.

“In the tunnels,” Ivy told him. “They can’t identify it. They believe that it’s a man, but they don’t know the species, the age, or how the person got down there. We were hoping that you might be able to help examine it and find out more about it.”

George nodded and turned toward the rest of the people in the room, quickly noting that Ellora was there alongside Aegeus. The image filled George’s heart and he felt it reach out toward Maxim, happy for the young man that he had restored the family that he had longed for throughout his life. George walked over to them and stepped up to the side of the table. He looked down at the body that lay on the table and immediately noted the size and development of the bones. This was almost certainly an adult but was smaller than the Denynso or even the Valdicians. He looked over them for a few moments longer before touching them, wanting to get as much information about them from this distance as he could. It would help to prevent distraction that could be caused by other details that he discovered when he delved further. It was something that he had learned throughout the years of his scientific career. It was all too easy to get confused when seemingly contradictory elements of one particular study or research focus come to light. He would frequently find out something only to find something soon after that went against the first discovery and muted conclusions that he had already made. This confusion and too many occasions early in his career when this distraction had caused him to overlook actual discoveries and come to conclusions that were untrue, putting entire trains of research at risk had taught George to take his research slowly and isolate each discovery that he made. When he crystallized these discoveries and kept them as individual concepts in his mind, he was able to analyze and evaluate each on their own merits before starting to make connections that could later develop into more impactful discoveries.

He felt extremely aware of the presence of the rest of the group around him as he examined the body. They seemed to be watching him even as they were also looking over the bones, their eyes flickering up to his face every few seconds as if they were waiting for him to say something, to give them any details that he might have.

“Would you mind giving me some time with the skeleton?” he asked, looking at each of them. “I’ll let you know as soon as I find something.”

He could see the hesitation in the expression that crossed between Severine and Rilex, but all of them stepped back from the tables.

“I should get Ivy back to the pod,” Maxim said. “I don’t want Dove to wake up without anyone there with her.”

“I’m going to go back to bed,” Avery said. “I didn’t get much sleep.”

George watched as they all began to stream out of the infirmary, Ivy hanging back so that the rest had left and she still stood there.

“Let me know if I can help you,” she said.

“You have enough on your plate now,” George said.

“I’m still a scientist,” she argued. “What you’re able to find out about this skeleton is important not just to me or to the war, but to my daughter as well. If there’s any way that I can help you, tell me.”

“I will,” George agreed.

She nodded and started out of the room, meeting Maxim at the doorway and intertwining their fingers between them so that they could walk together back down the hallway. George was suddenly alone in the infirmary and felt the silence close in around him. His focus was instantly sharpened as nothing around him distracted him and he was able to narrow his attention directly into each area of the skeleton that he reviewed. He examined the skull, looking for any indication of the species of this skeleton, or any sign of damage that might have been the cause of death. When there was nothing extraordinary about it, and he started his way down the rest of the remains carefully, taking his time as he reviewed each of the bones. It wasn’t until he had gotten to the tatters of the shirt that still clung to the skeleton that he started noticing things that stood out.

The fibers of the shirt were familiar in his hand. He had felt this material before, which made the condition that it was in even more unusual. Generally, clothing or blankets made from this material was extremely durable, making the tears strange and difficult to explain. George decided to remove the clothing so that he could look at the bones and the clothing separately. He lifted one of the arms and drew the bones out of the fabric, pushing the fabric aside before resting the bones back into place. He repeated the process on the other arm and as he was setting the bone back in place he noticed something clinging to it. George turned the arm bone around to get a better look at the object. He peeled it off and put the bone down, turning the smaller object over in his hand a few times. It appeared to be part of a leaf, apparently left attached to the bone after the body faded away and the leaf fell from where it had been caught up in the shirt.

He had been looking at the leaf for a few moments when a thought occurred to him. He had seen that type of leaf before. It was an unusual shape and though it had dried after the many years that it had been there, he could see that its color was not the usual green of trees that he was familiar with on Earth. He stared at the leaf, rubbing it in his fingers gently as to not cause it to disintegrate. Unable to bring to mind why he knew the leaf, George set it aside on one of the counters at the side of the room and returned to the skeleton. He removed the rest of the clothing and spread it out on the next examination table. Now that he had the bones fully visible, he was able to see them more clearly. Their shape confirmed that this was a male, just as they had suspected, and a full-grown adult. He still couldn’t see any indication of what might have caused this man’s death, though he could see signs of trauma on some of the bones that told him that this man had sustained serious injuries across several years of his life.

George had nearly finished examining all the bones when a memory burst in his mind, suddenly telling him why that leaf looked familiar. He crossed to it and carefully transferred it onto one of the clear glass dishes that he found in a cabinet above. This allowed him to look at the leaf from all angles, examining it more thoroughly without causing any damage to it. He needed to preserve it as much as possible until he was able to confirm his suspicions about it. When he was certain that he was remembering accurately, he put a lid on the dish, tucked it into his bag, and walked out of the infirmary. Rilex was standing at the end of the hall and approached him as soon as he stepped out.

“So?” he asked. “Did you find out anything?”

George nodded, but he kept his expression as neutral as he could. Even though he thought that he might have uncovered something significant about the person who now lay in the infirmary reduced to bone, he didn’t feel that he knew enough yet to talk to the rest about it. If what he suspected was wrong, it could distract the group and put them on the wrong path. Instead, he could offer Rilex the basic information that he had gathered and then he needed to get back to the compound as soon as he could so that he could further confirm what he thought about the leaf.

“You were right in assuming that it was a man,” he told him. “And he was an adult. It will take a more extensive examination to know more than that. We’ll need to bring the bones back to the compound tomorrow.”

Rilex looked as though he was disappointed with the information that George had offered, but that he wasn’t going to say anything. George bade him goodnight and walked around Rilex, heading toward the room that he and Zsilvia had shared when they came from Earth. The room was lonely without her. As soon as he stepped through the door into the pod he felt the compulsion to tell her what he was thinking and what it could mean, knowing that she would listen to him and give her own thoughts about the situation, helping him to process through what he was learning from the bones. The emptiness of the room made a painful impact and he stood in the center of the pod for several long seconds just absorbing the quiet and how much he missed Zsilvia even though it had been only a matter of hours since he had kissed her goodbye before leaving for the ship. He wished that she had come with him and that he could take her into his arms now, finding comfort and reassurance in her presence. The love that he had found with her was unlike anything that he had ever been able to imagine. His life had been devoted to science and the pursuits that had been his focus since he had entered the University. That devotion had cost him many of the things that others valued, including relationships that he thought were important but had only proven distractions and less pertinent in his life than the work that he was doing.

That had all changed when he met Zsilvia. Suddenly he didn’t feel as though he had to make a choice. It wasn’t about either having a life or being with a woman. There was no division. Instead, meeting her had felt like everything had come together and his life was finally cohesive. Zsilvia and his work existed alongside each other, neither jockeying for precedence over the other. He knew that her value in his life was well beyond anything else that he had ever had, including his career, and that he was completely and unflinchingly willing to leave behind everything that he had built on Earth to be with her. Yet Zsilvia had never asked him to sacrifice anything. She had never questioned the importance of his career or the time and energy that he devoted to it. Instead, she was supportive of him, encouraging his pursuits, and reassuring him always that she was by his side no matter where his studies would take him. It was this willingness to exist in cohesive harmony with his career that made George love her even more, and brought her even further into his heart, precious to him in a way that was indescribable, and yet that inexplicable, intangible character of the love and bond that they had made it even more treasured.

George drew the dish out of his bag and rested it on the table beside the bed. The light from the lamp glowed down on it, highlighting the delicate veins that meandered through the deep purple and crimson mottled leaf. He allowed himself only a few more moments of looking at it before he turned off the lamp, undressed, and climbed into bed to catch some sleep before the work of the next day would begin.