Indigo Squad by Tim C. Taylor

from Arun that grew worse with every step.
    The trauma from the cuts was painful enough, but Arun had been wounded many times before and knew it would take more than a few deep claw-slices to damage him permanently. But the wounds felt hot and itched unbearably. His body’s defenses were telling him they were fighting off toxins or infection.
    The wounds were not clean and it felt as if something had been inserted into his flesh.
    Had the officer poisoned him?

— Chapter 12 —
    “When I heard your shuttle had been lost… I… I couldn’t bear to lose you too.” Deputy Chief Cryo Officer Purify peered over his thick glasses at Indiya, concern evident in his rheumy old eyes. “Thank goodness you’re all right, my dear.”
    After a moment of feeling insulted to be called my dear, she wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into the crook of her uncle’s neck. Even his scratchy white beard felt comforting today.
    “It’s a good job I was with Marine McEwan,” she said from inside the embrace.
    Uncle Puri drew back, embarrassed by the physical nature of her affection. “Arun McEwan?” he absent-mindedly took off his glasses and rubbed at one eye. “I’ve heard him mentioned. Did you know the Sergeant of Marines is his brother?”
    She considered this news. “No I didn’t, and I can’t see how that’s significant. I do know that my McEwan was the only one of them with enough initiative to save us. None of the other Marines could possibly have thought that through because their minds are so tainted.”
    “Er, yes. Yes, I assumed it was just me who thought that. Our ship’s detachment of Marines appear normal to me, but the battalion we are carrying as passengers does seem a little… sluggish. Even for Homo sapiens mutans . Or should that be Homo sapiens giganteus?”
    Indiya was about to admonish her uncle for running off on a linguistic tangent. But when she thought about it, Uncle had always found comfort in puzzle games, and distraction was what he needed.
    She tried to give a genial laugh. “Yes, I suppose we can’t really call them human. What does that make us, though? Homo sapiens astorum?”
    Uncle Puri tilted his head and tugged endearingly at his beard. “Does that mean star humans?”
    Indiya shrugged. “Maybe. When I was a girl you taught me useful things, such as how to blend cryo fluids to match an individual’s physiology. You never had time to teach Latin.”
    “My dear Indiya, I hope I encouraged you to think. That is far more important than knowing transitory facts that could become obsolete as you progress through your life’s journey, let alone a language dead for so long that the dust that first settled upon it has become rock. But back to your Marines. Please don’t judge them harshly. Not only are they a more simple-minded form of human than ourselves but, like you, our current cargo are not yet out of their teens when judged in standard years. Unlike you they are not ready to carry out their tasks, rushed into their combat suits before they’re fully trained. It is only natural that they should lack initiative.”
    “Uncle, I’m not a child. We both know they’ve been doped.”
    Purify’s expression hardened. Mamma used to talk with pride that her older brother had been the first human on the ship promoted to officer rank. Her uncle hadn’t achieved that by being nice.
    “Explain,” he ordered.
    Indiya wanted to, but should she? She wasn’t only talking to her indulgent uncle now, but the deputy commander of the cryo teams. Too late. She’d already incriminated herself.
    “The Marines were given mind-altering drugs while in cryo,” she said. “I think they still are, even after thawing.”
    “Who told you they were drugged?”
    “No one. I saw it in the cryo diagnostics.”
    “They were not drugged.” Uncle Puri articulated every word with exaggerated precision. “They were given growth factors.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “You know perfectly well that these