Ten Hearts by E.H. Qin

Author:E.H. Qin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure, religion, science fiction, aliens, light speed, romance scifi, religion and aliens, diverse books science fiction, diverse fantasy
Publisher: E.H. Qin

Denver stopped by his cabin as briefly as he could to get his side arm, which had to be carried on station at all times, and hat and gloves, but didn't bother to change into a thermal suit. He left the ship and jogged up the levels to the infirmary. A number of the people were still housed there, either because they couldn't get back to their residential, or because they were still under medical care. He found Malia who was just glancing over her comm patch. She gave him a quizzical look. "I just got Zai's update. I'll be ready in ten fractions."

"Good. Makes my job easier. The woman? Older one?" he asked. Malia needed no further explanation, but gestured toward the far end of the infirmary.

"She is in the large curtained section."

Denver made his way through the maze of curtained and open beds, equipment and people to the area indicated and stuck his head into a sectioned-off area that probably originally contained five beds, but now looked to be crowded with about four families. The person he was looking for was sitting beside the middle bed, which held an adolescent and a child of about five. The child was the only person younger than about eleven who they had found alive, outside of the group from the commissary, which had included an infant and three other young children. The older woman was talking in a low voice to both the youngsters. She had on a loose dark blue smock covering her from the neck down over the standard utilitarian ship suit, and her hair was covered. He stopped at the foot of the bed.

"Elder Sister," he said.

She looked up and stared at him calmly, folding her hands out of sight into her smock. It was hard to tell how old she was, but probably less than twenty standard years older than he was, which would make her old for an Arc Aro stationer. Like him, she had pale skin and pale eyes, grayer than his. She had a lined, hard face with several patches of recently applied artificial skin, and before she tucked her hands out of the way he had seen the shapes of the bandages. He hoped the Yamet thought their human collateral were worth the investment in reconstruction and prosthetics, because people without all their fingers didn't do the work that was available here very well.

"You want?" she asked.

"Come with me."

Several other people on nearby beds had stood and were starting to move toward them. The child on the bed started to whimper. Denver stopped and looked down at the child. She, too, had cold damage on the visible parts of her body. She was hanging onto a fold of the woman's garment but when she saw Denver's eyes on her, she dropped the garment and scooted backward. He set down his weapon at the foot of the bed, stripped off his gloves and showed her his hands. He set a finger at the corner of his eyes.

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