4

      I was blind and helpless, battling against pain to get air into my lungs. There were sounds of a fight somewhere very close, fists hitting flesh and agonized gasps. What was happening? Was someone attacking Fian? How could someone have been here, in what should have been an empty dome, lying in wait for us?

      ‘Playdon, get her to hospital!’

      That harsh, angry voice was definitely Fian. Arms grabbed me from behind, half carrying me. There was the siren of a portal medical emergency alarm, which abruptly cut out to be replaced by the sound of voices. We’d portalled. We must be in a Hospital Earth Europe casualty unit now.

      ‘Code ten!’ Playdon’s voice yelled next to my right ear. ‘Code ten! Chemical contamination!’

      I was dragged sharply sideways and liquid sprayed over me. I whimpered in panic before I realized this wasn’t another attack. I was in a decontamination shower.

      ‘Jarra, open your eyes and your mouth!’

      I forced them open, and the pain eased as the decontamination fluid did its job. Playdon’s blurred face was inches from my own, his dripping hair a startling contrast to his usual neat appearance.

      ‘Does it still hurt? Can you see?’

      I managed to speak. ‘Just a faint stinging now, and I can see.’

      ‘Good. Can you stand by yourself?’

      ‘Yes.’

      Playdon cautiously let me go, and moved back the short distance the shower allowed. ‘It’s totally inappropriate for me to shower with my students, but in the circumstances I think we’d both better stay in here a while.’

      My nose was working again now, and even the strong odour of decontaminant couldn’t drown out something more powerful. ‘Oh no! He threw skunk juice at me?’

      ‘Yes.’

      My attacker had shouted about Beta sector, and thrown Cassandrian skunk juice in my face. This was about me joining the Tell clan. Lolia and Lolmack thought it was wonderful, but the people like Petra, the ones who hated apes …

      The shower door opened, and a woman in doctor’s uniform looked in at us. ‘Undiluted skunk juice is extremely dangerous.’ Her head turned away for a second as she gulped in some clean air. ‘Fortunately, our scans show you got into the decontaminant quickly enough to avoid serious burns. Please remain here for a few more minutes.’

      The shower door closed, leaving me alone again with Playdon in what suddenly seemed embarrassingly close quarters. ‘I’m really sorry about this.’

      Playdon brushed his wet hair out of his face. ‘It’s not your fault, Jarra. I don’t know how that man got into the dome, but …’

      The doctor opened the door again. She was wearing a mask now. ‘Please step outside, but try not to touch anything.’

      I followed Playdon out of the shower, nearly gagging on my own stench as I left the decontaminant. My eyes wouldn’t focus properly, but I could make out the shapes of a reception desk and rows of empty seats. This place had probably been full of people when I arrived, but they’d all fled when they caught the first whiff of skunk juice, all except the unlucky doctor who had to treat me.

      The doctor handed a mask to Playdon, and then tipped some tablets from a bottle into two tiny cups. ‘These are meds for shock.’

      Playdon gulped his down, but I shook my head. I didn’t like things that messed with my mind.

      The doctor was obviously suffering badly from the smell despite her mask, but she bravely started waving a scanner at us. ‘Skunk juice comes from a Cassandrian fruit and is completely odourless until activated by binding to the skin. The creature called the Cassandrian skunk deliberately rolls in fallen fruit to make itself smell as a defence against predators.’

      I could tell by the way she recited it, that she’d just looked up skunk juice on the Earth data net. ‘I’m sorry about this,’ I said.

      ‘Please don’t apologize, Commander. Whoever did this to you should …’ Her sentence was interrupted by a series of musical chimes from the portal, and she looked startled. ‘This unit’s in lockdown. Why is someone portalling in?’

      I tensed, preparing to face another attack and determined to handle it better than last time, but the person stepping out of the portal was Fian. He hurried towards us, and I hastily stepped backwards. ‘No! Don’t touch me!’

      He frowned, but obediently stopped with a short distance between us, accepted a mask the doctor helpfully waved at him, and put it on. ‘I’ve been worried sick, but I couldn’t come until I had the situation under control.’

      Playdon made an odd choking noise. ‘Perhaps you could tell me what’s been happening back at the dome, Major Eklund. You ordered me out of there so fast that I barely even saw the intruder.’

      Fian blushed. ‘I apologize, sir. I knew I could trust you to get the right medical help for Jarra, so … The prisoner’s been taken to Zulu base for medical treatment and questioning, and the class are waiting in the dome hall while Military Security check the area. I handed command over to Major Sand of Military Security before I came here.’

      ‘You handed command over …’ Playdon gave way to laughter behind his mask. ‘Fian, didn’t it occur to you for a single moment that you were a student, I was your lecturer, and I should be the one dealing with the intruder?’

      Fian had a totally grazzed expression on his face. ‘No, I … We were under attack, it’s the job of the Military to defend civilians, and …’ He shook his head in complete bewilderment. ‘Why did I react like that? I’m just a history student thrust into uniform.’

      Playdon shook his head. ‘I think you’ve successfully made the transition from civilian to Military, Major Eklund.’

      The hovering doctor was studying her scanner. ‘Commander Tell Morrath, the skunk juice has bonded to the skin of your face, hands and scalp. You also have minor eye damage that should respond to regeneration fluid treatment within a few hours. Your companion,’ she nodded at Playdon, ‘fortunately didn’t have direct skin contact with the juice.’

      Playdon wasn’t skunked. I sighed with relief.

      The doctor put on some gloves, sprayed my eyes with something that made my vision even blurrier, then produced a jar of something blue. ‘This gel will neutralize the remaining unbonded juice, Commander, making it safe for people to touch you. It will also reduce the smell to a certain extent, and accelerate the degradation process from several weeks to two or three